By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) – A top Democrat in Congress accused the Justice Department on Wednesday of withholding FBI interviews with a woman who accused President Donald Trump of sexually abusing her as a minor from its public release of documents related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Representative Robert Garcia, the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, said he had confirmed media reports from National Public Radio and independent journalist Roger Sollenberger that the Justice Department withheld more than 50 pages of material dealing with the woman’s claims from more than 3 million Epstein-related documents it has released. The New York Times subsequently published a story.
Reuters has not independently verified the reports.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said on Wednesday that Trump had been “totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.”
Law enforcement authorities have not accused Trump of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The Justice Department said it is reviewing whether any of its remaining Epstein-related documents were improperly withheld, and said they would be published if appropriate. The department has previously cautioned that the material it has released includes unfounded accusations and sensationalist claims about Trump.
Trump socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s but has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, and says he broke off ties before the financier’s 2008 conviction on solicitation of a minor for prostitution.
Garcia said the withheld material showed that the FBI took the woman’s allegations seriously and interviewed the woman four times but only released the first interview, which did not detail her accusations against Trump.
“The fact that DOJ is suppressing documents alleging President Trump’s commission of sexual abuse of an underage victim only heightens my genuine concerns about a White House cover-up,” Garcia wrote in a letter to the department.
The Justice Department has struggled to process the millions of Epstein-related documents and missed the month-long timeline for their release set by Congress. The department says it has withheld material that could compromise the identity of Epstein’s victims or jeopardize ongoing investigations.
To date, the documents made public include photos of Trump with several women whose faces are redacted and a suggestive note to Epstein, framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to bear Trump’s signature.
Evidence and testimony submitted in the 2021 trial of Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell indicate Trump traveled on Epstein’s plane multiple times. Epstein wrote in one email that Trump “knew about the girls,” though it is not clear what he meant.
Trump denies ever flying on Epstein’s plane and has said the suggestive note was faked.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 while facing federal sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; additional reporting by Nandita Bose; editing by Andy Sullivan, Bill Berkrot and Edward Tobin)
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