DoJ publishes 'missing' Epstein files including Trump claims - The Times

The Justice Department has released ‘missing’ Epstein files, which include unsubstantiated sexual assault allegations against President Trump.

The files include FBI memos documenting four separate interviews with an unidentified woman in 2019 who alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Jeffrey Epstein and Trump when she was a minor in the 1980s.

In a statement on Thursday, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the claims from the FBI interviews as “completely baseless accusations, backed by zero credible evidence”.

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“The total baselessness of these accusations is also supported by the obvious fact that Joe Biden’s department of justice knew about them for four years and did nothing with them — because they knew President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong,” Leavitt added. Trump has denied all allegations made against him, and being mentioned in the Epstein files does not imply wrongdoing.

The decision to publish the files came after a number of US media outlets accused the department of withholding files thought to contain uncorroborated allegations against Trump.

The accuser interviewed by FBI agents came forward after Epstein’s 2019 arrest to say she had been sexually assaulted by both men. At the time of the allegation, Trump was a successful real estate and casino magnate in New York.

The woman claimed to agents that Epstein introduced her to Trump, and that she claimed Trump had assaulted her in an encounter when she was 13 in 1983.

According to internal FBI notes, she claimed that when they were alone in a “very tall building” — either in New York or New Jersey — Trump allegedly “mentioned something to the effect of: ‘Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be,’” before attempting to sexually assault her. The woman, from South Carolina, told agents she bit him and that Trump then struck her and had her removed from the room.

The woman told the agents in one interview that she “got the feeling the relationship between Epstein and Trump included a certain amount of jealousy”. She thought Trump “appeared jealous of Epstein, but at some point, they ended up on a level playing field”.

She alleged that both men used the terms “fresh meat” and “untainted” while referring to girls.

Agents wrote that the woman asked, “What’s the point?” of coming forward with allegations after the statute of limitations had likely passed.

It is not clear from the files what became of the FBI’s investigation into the woman’s claims. An email sent between agents last summer notes that “one identified victim claimed abuse by Trump but ultimately refused to cooperate”.

There is no evidence that Trump and Epstein knew each other in 1983, which is at least four years earlier than Trump has acknowledged knowing the sex offender.

The woman was deemed ineligible for the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program, which paid settlements to more than 130 survivors.

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An administration official described the allegations made to the bureau as “non-credible”, while Trump himself has denied wrongdoing and said the Epstein files “totally exonerated” him.

The handful of files released on Thursday were part of a bigger tranche of around 47,000 expected to be published on the department website after review this week.

Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed by Trump in November, the Justice Department is obligated to release all its files related to the Epstein case, with redactions only made to protect victims or ongoing investigations.

The House Oversight Committee voted this week to subpoena the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of the case against Epstein and the release of its files.

Democratic, and some Republican, members of Congress have accused Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, of slow-walking their release and of improperly withholding material in violation of the law.

Blanche assured reporters back in December that the department was carefully reviewing millions of pages for sensitive information regarding victims and that “nothing related to Trump in the files would be withheld”.