The Department of Justice did not include certain crucial FBI interview materials in the broad Epstein files archive—among them records tied to a woman who said President Donald Trump assaulted her when she was underage, according to reports from CNN and NPR.
CNN’s analysis found that more than 90 FBI witness interview files appear absent from the more than three million pages released by the DOJ beginning in December 2025. Missing among them are three FBI interviews with a woman who told investigators that Jeffrey Epstein abused her repeatedly starting when she was 13 in the early 1980s, and who also alleged that President Trump assaulted her during that time.
The DOJ released the files after President Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 19, 2025, which mandated the disclosure of all investigative materials related to the convicted sex offender. Epstein died in federal custody on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the leading Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, described the missing materials as potentially criminal. “We have a survivor that made serious allegations against the president,” Garcia told CNN. “But there’s a set of documents, and what seem to be possible interviews the FBI conducted with the survivor, that are missing and inaccessible to us.”
The woman called the FBI hotline around July 10, 2019, after recognizing Epstein in a picture. Federal agents interviewed her four times over several months that year, generating more than 50 pages of notes. Only the first interview made it into the public archive, and it was heavily redacted.
Independent journalist Roger Sollenberger initially spotted the inconsistency by comparing serial numbers from evidence logs provided to Ghislaine Maxwell’s defense team with what appeared on the DOJ site. Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, was found guilty in December 2021 on five sex trafficking–related charges and received a 20-year prison sentence.
The evidence log lists roughly 325 FBI witness interviews, but more than a quarter are missing from the DOJ’s public collection. The absent materials correspond to interviews carried out in states such as New York, Washington, Oregon, and Georgia.
A DOJ spokesperson denied that anything had been excluded. “We have not deleted anything, and as we have always said, all documents responsive were produced,” the spokesperson said. The department stated that withheld materials were duplicates, protected records, or connected to ongoing investigations.
President Trump has repeatedly denied any misconduct related to Epstein and has consistently claimed that the released documents “totally exonerated” him. The White House called the new allegations “false and sensationalist.”
The release of the Epstein files has faced strong pushback from investigators and survivors. Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter whose work uncovered major aspects of Epstein’s operation, told PBS NewsHour that the redactions highlight enduring inequities. She argued that shielding powerful men’s identities while exposing some victims’ names shows “two systems of justice in this country.”
Andrew McCabe, former FBI deputy director and CNN analyst, stressed how crucial witness interview documents are in any criminal probe. “It’s the most basic and important brick in the wall that becomes the investigation,” McCabe said.
The DOJ’s release of 3.5 million pages involved more than 500 attorneys and reviewers working for weeks to assess materials from six major sources: the Florida and New York cases against Epstein, the New York case against Maxwell, inquiries into Epstein’s death, a Florida case involving Epstein’s former butler, multiple FBI investigations, and an Inspector General review. The release also contained over 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.
Garcia stated that Democrats on the Oversight Committee will open an investigation into the missing records. “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 issue has received worldwide attention, with The Guardian reporting that the U.K. has taken more forceful steps toward institutional accountability regarding Epstein’s network than the U.S. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince who lost his titles, was arrested on Feb. 25, 2026, on suspicion of misconduct in public office based on information disclosed in the files.
Survivors of Epstein’s crimes voiced frustration over the incomplete release. “All of us have been looking for our victim statements,” said Jess Michaels, one of Epstein’s victims. She accused the Justice Department of “gaslighting the entire country.”