Epstein files: DOJ withheld documents about claim Trump sexually abused minor, MS NOW reports
In a 1997 photo, Jeffrey Epstein, left, and Donald Trump pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.
Davidoff Studios Photography | Archive Photos | Getty Images
The Department of Justice has withheld from public disclosure in its Epstein files database memos and notes about FBI interviews, including those of a woman who has alleged President Donald Trump sexually abused her when she was a minor, MS NOW reported Tuesday.
The woman, who was interviewed in July 2019 by the FBI about allegations against convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, alleged that “Trump forced her to perform oral sex on him 35 years ago, when she was 13 or 14 years old, and subsequently hit her,” MS NOW reported, citing a source who has reviewed unredacted documents.
“That allegation appears in a 2025 PowerPoint presentation detailing each of the FBI’s Epstein-related investigations and a spreadsheet of unconfirmed tips called into the bureau’s National Threat Operations Center reviewed by MS NOW,” the outlet reported. “MS NOW has found that of at least four interviews the FBI conducted with the woman related to the Epstein investigations, only one memo – and no handwritten notes – reflecting such an interview is included on the DOJ site.”
MS NOW’s report came hours after NPR first reported that the DOJ withheld from its public database of Epstein documents files related to allegations that Trump sexually abused a minor.
DOJ “also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump,” NPR reported.
A law signed by Trump in late 2025 requires the DOJ to make public, with few exceptions, all of its investigative files related to Epstein, who killed himself in a New York City federal jail in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on federal child sex trafficking charges.
Trump is a former friend of Epstein. The two fell out in the early 2000s. The president has never been criminally charged in connection with a claim by an Epstein survivor.
Trump last week said the Epstein files had “totally exonerated” him.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., in a statement on Tuesday said, “For the last few weeks, Oversight Democrats have been investigating the FBI’s handling of allegations from 2019 of sexual assault on a minor made against President Donald Trump by a survivor.”
“Yesterday, I reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the Department of Justice. Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes,” said Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
“Oversight Democrats will open a parallel investigation into this.”
Garcia also said that because of a prior subpoena issued by the Oversight Committee, as well as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, “These records must immediately be shared with Congress and the American public.”
“Covering up direct evidence of a potential assault by the President of the United States is the most serious possible crime in this White House cover up,” he said.
The DOJ, when contacted by CNBC for comment, pointed to a post on X in which it responded to Garcia’s statement.
“@OversightDems should stop misleading the public while manufacturing outrage from their radical anti-Trump base,” the post said. “@TheJusticeDept has repeatedly said publicly AND directly to @NPR prior to deadline – NOTHING has been deleted. If files are temporarily pulled for victim redactions or to redact Personally Identifiable Information, then those documents are promptly restored online and are publicly available.”
“ALL responsive documents have been produced unless a document falls within one of the following categories: duplicates, privileged, or part of an ongoing federal investigation,” DOJ said.
The White House referred CNBC to the DOJ’s X post when asked for comment.
Trump was asked by a reporter last week about the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former British prince, by police in the United Kingdom on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
That arrest is believed to be related to an investigation into whether Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles III, had shared confidential trade reports with Epstein.
“I’m the expert in a way because I’ve been totally exonerated. That’s very nice. I can actually speak about it very nicely,” Trump said of the arrest.
“I think it’s a shame. I did nothing,” the president said.