The Justice Department’s imminent release of more than 47,000 withheld documents related to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein include wild, unverified claims of President Trump engaging in sexual misconduct that date back to the 1980s.
Democrats accused the department of withholding the files because they include four FBI interviews of a woman who said Mr. Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1980s when she was a minor.
The Justice Department is reviewing the documents to ensure it excludes photos of victims and plans to release the files by the end of the week, a department official said.
Both parties say they are fed up with the delays in releasing the Epstein files, which were ordered to be fully disclosed under a law Mr. Trump signed in November.
Bipartisan frustration with the Justice Department over withheld Epstein documents pushed lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to vote Thursday to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Lawmakers believe the Justice Department is shielding wealthy and powerful men who abused Epstein’s victims.
“The Epstein case is one of the greatest cover-ups in American history. His global sex trafficking network is larger than what is being revealed,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, South Carolina Republican. “Three million documents have been released, and we still don’t have the full truth. Videos are missing. Audio is missing. Logs are missing. There are millions more documents out there. We want to know why the DOJ is more focused on shielding the powerful than delivering justice.”
The withheld documents include interviews with an unnamed woman who met with the FBI in 2019, after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges. Epstein died by suicide in a New York City jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting prosecution.
The woman told the FBI that Epstein sexually assaulted her and had also arranged a meeting between her and Mr. Trump when she was around the ages of 13 to 15.
She said during one encounter, Mr. Trump exposed himself to her and forced her head down into his lap. She said she bit him, and he hit her on the head and then kicked her out.
The woman joined a 2019 lawsuit filed by victims against Epstein’s estate.
In the lawsuit, the woman appears as Jane Doe No. 4 and said she first met Epstein around 1984 in Hilton Head, South Carolina, when she was 13.
She said she was lured to Epstein’s home to provide babysitting services but was instead offered alcohol and drugs. He later raped her and took photos.
The woman does not mention Mr. Trump in the lawsuit but accused Epstein of taking her to New York City on several occasions to “offer her up as fresh meat” to “prominent, wealthy men.”
In the FBI interviews, the woman said she had two additional interactions with Mr. Trump.
The president has denied participating in Epstein’s sex crimes and said he broke off his friendship with Epstein by 2007, a year before Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The woman’s accusations are unverified, and the FBI never proceeded with a criminal case.
Mr. Trump was one of the first people to call Palm Beach police to alert them Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls, according to then-Police Chief Michael Reiter, who took the call in 2006.
It’s unclear whether the president’s accuser was awarded damages in the Epstein lawsuit. The Washington Times has reached out to the Bloom Firm, which represented her.
Justice Department officials have released millions of files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. They’ve held back some documents to protect victims’ identities, and when a document is flagged, it’s pulled from public disclosure for review and then made public later, department aides said.
“The Department has not deleted any files from the library. In compliance with the EFTA, our team is working around the clock to address victim concerns, redact personally identifiable information and any images of a sexual nature,” a department spokesperson said. “As of March 2, 47,635 files were offline for further review and should be ready for re-production by the end of the week. This is the most transparent Department of Justice in history, and all responsive documents will be repopulated online once proper redactions are made.”
