On February 24, 2026, NPR, the New York Times, and other outlets reported that the Department of Justice had removed or withheld more than 50 pages of FBI documents from its public release of the Epstein files — specifically, documents related to a woman who accused President Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 years old.
According to the DOJ's own index, the FBI conducted four interviews with the accuser and produced summaries of each. Only one summary — detailing her accusations against Epstein — was included in the public release. The three summaries detailing her accusations against Trump were missing. The accuser claimed that around 1983, when she was approximately 13, Epstein introduced her to Trump, who subsequently forced her head onto his exposed genitals. When she resisted, Trump allegedly punched her in the head and threw her out.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Democrats would investigate the withheld records and confirmed that the DOJ “appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with the accuser.” The DOJ said it was “looking into” whether documents were improperly withheld but offered no explanation for why three of four interview summaries — the three involving Trump — happened to be the ones missing.
Trump ordered the release of the Epstein files. His own Justice Department then selectively removed the documents most damaging to him personally. The files were supposed to reveal the truth. Instead, they reveal a cover-up.