Kenneth Glad
What was billed as a sweeping transparency effort is facing a fresh round of doubt.
According to the independent outlet NPR, some Justice Department records tied to Jeffrey Epstein that reference President Donald Trump appear in internal tracking systems but are not visible in the public online archive. That absence is now under review on Capitol Hill.
Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act last year after bipartisan frustration over years of sealed filings and partial disclosures. The law required the department to publish investigative materials, while allowing redactions to protect victims and active cases.
The first major release went live Jan. 30. Since then, files have been added, corrected and in some cases briefly taken down. Earlier this month, officials acknowledged that certain victims’ names were not properly redacted and said staff were working to fix the errors.
NPR reports that its examination of internal document references and the public website suggests dozens of pages of interview summaries and notes are not currently posted. The outlet said some of those materials contain references to Trump.
In a Feb. 14 letter to Congress, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote that no documents were withheld or edited “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
Oversight and pushback
The Justice Department has said, writes NPR, that any records not published fall into recognized exemptions, including privileged material, duplicates or files connected to ongoing investigations. It has also said temporary removals can happen if a victim or attorney flags sensitive information for further review.
That has not satisfied critics.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said he reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the department under the committee’s oversight authority. After that review, he said, “Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes.”
The White House rejects that claim. Trump “has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in comments to the outlet, adding that he has been “totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.”
Disputes over high-profile document releases are not unusual for the department. Similar fights have erupted in past politically sensitive investigations, sometimes over secrecy, other times over excessive disclosure.
Allegations and records
NPR’s reporting describes a larger pool of allegations gathered during the Epstein investigation, many of which agents assessed as unverifiable or lacking credibility. Within that group, however, at least one allegation naming Trump was circulated internally for additional scrutiny.
In an internal summary cited by NPR, a woman alleged that in the 1980s, when she was 13, Epstein introduced her to Trump, “who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out.” Trump has denied wrongdoing.
The outlet also reported that records connected to another woman, who later testified in Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, were briefly removed after the Jan. 30 release and restored Feb. 19. An FBI report states, “EPSTEIN told TRUMP, ‘This is a good one, huh.,'” during an encounter at Mar-a-Lago when she was a minor.
Attorney Robert Glassman, representing that woman, put it bluntly: “This whole thing is ridiculous,” he said in remarks to NPR.
For now, the Justice Department maintains it has complied with the law. Whether Congress agrees may determine the next phase of the dispute.
Source: NPR, Letter to Congress
