New Epstein files to be released after 'missing' Trump claims - The Times

The US justice department is to release nearly 50,000 “missing” Jeffrey Epstein files this week.

The documents, which are referred to in the tranche released in late January but appear to have been withheld by the department, potentially contain unverified claims about President Trump, including FBI reports detailing a woman’s unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

After a Wall Street Journal and CBS News analysis identified 47,635 files that appeared to be missing, the department said that they had been taken “offline for further review and should be ready for re-production by the end of the week”.

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Officials previously said some files included fake or false materials that were sent to the FBI by the public and may “contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump”.

Included among the missing files, according to the analysis, were at least three FBI memos summarising interviews the bureau conducted with a woman who came forward after Epstein’s 2019 arrest to say she had been sexually assaulted by Trump and the financier in the mid-1980s, when she was a minor.

Still-public files contain a 2025 memo, where federal officials wrote that the woman had said that Epstein introduced her to Trump and that she claimed Trump had assaulted her in a violent and lurid encounter when she was 13 to 15 years old in 1983. There is no evidence Trump and Epstein knew each other in 1983.

Trump has denied all allegations made against him and being mentioned in the Epstein files does not imply wrongdoing. The White House was approached for comment about the upcoming release.

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There was no assessment by the FBI about the credibility of her accusation and the woman was deemed ineligible for the Epstein victims’ compensation programme, which paid settlements to more than 130 Epstein victims.

A justice department official said “nothing has been deleted” and that any withheld material was either duplicative or privileged.

Todd Blanche, deputy attorney-general, said the department reviewed six million total pages, meaning the 2.7 million documents it initially released constitutes less than half of the total.

He said the justice department withheld files to protect survivors and ongoing investigations, but Democratic members of the House oversight committee investigating Epstein’s vast sex-trafficking ring, who have access to the unredacted files, have criticised the redactions, arguing that some protect powerful men instead of survivors.

“This is the most transparent Department of Justice in history,” a spokeswoman told the Journal. She said the department was working to address victims’ concerns and redact personally identifiable information and any images of a sexual nature. She said all responsive documents would be published online once proper redactions are made.

Democrats on the committee are hoping to invite Trump for questioning, saying their subpoena of Bill and Hillary Clinton provides a precedent for calling in former, and sitting, presidents.

The Trump administration’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, a former neighbour and associate of Epstein, this week agreed to voluntarily appear for questioning.

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Others have been invited to volunteer to appear before the committee, including Lesley Groff and Sarah Kellen, who are former Epstein personal assistants accused of recruiting women for abuse by Epstein. Both have denied wrongdoing.

Also invited are Doug Band, Bill Clinton’s former top aide who in the Epstein files sends “flirtatious” messages to Maxwell, and Leon Black, the former chief executuive of Apollo Management accused by numerous Epstein victims of sexual assault. He denies the allegations.