The Justice Department said it is looking into whether it improperly withheld some records tied to the federal Epstein files, after several news organizations and lawmakers said specific materials from FBI interviews were not included in the records released to the public. The department’s announcement came Wednesday in a post on X, setting out a process for reviewing documents that the public said were absent from the production.
In the post, the Justice Department said “Several individuals and news outlets have recently flagged files related to documents produced to Ghislaine Maxwell in discovery of her criminal case that they claim appear to be missing,” adding that the department was “currently reviewing files within that category of the production.” The department said Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime confidant, is serving a 20-year prison sentence on a sex-trafficking conviction.
The Justice Department said that if it finds that any document was improperly withheld and is responsive to the federally enacted law requiring release, “the Department will of course publish it, consistent with the law.” It did not say in the post why records related to the specific accusation at issue might have been withheld.
At the center of the dispute are reports that the released records did not include several summaries of interviews that the FBI conducted in 2019 with an unidentified woman who said she was sexually assaulted by both Trump and Epstein when she was a minor in the 1980s. News reports have said the woman was interviewed multiple times as investigators assessed her account, but that only one of those interview summaries appeared in the publicly released files.
The accusation against Trump, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing connected to Epstein, was discussed in recent reporting by several outlets, including Roger Sollenberger, and coverage that later documented the missing interview summaries. The Justice Department last month said it was releasing more than 3 million pages of Epstein-related records, describing an effort to be transparent while also saying it could withhold material in certain categories, including records that exposed potential abuse victims, duplicates, or material covered by legal privileges or tied to an ongoing criminal investigation.
In defending its approach at the time of the release, the Justice Department said some documents contained “untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump” submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election, adding that the claims were “unfounded and false.” The department also said that the redaction process had been withdrawn for some materials after issues were revealed, following litigation and complaints from lawyers who said the release was flawed.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement that Democrats on the panel would investigate the withheld records. Garcia said he had reviewed unredacted evidence logs and “can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews” with the accuser.