Democrats set to investigate if DOJ withheld Epstein files implicating Trump

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Democrats on the panel are investigating whether the Justice Department intentionally withheld materials from the Epstein files which implicate President Donald Trump.

An investigative NPR report released Tuesday found the Department of Justice (DOJ) did not release materials within the files that accused Trump of sexual assault against a minor. Garcia said that if the DOJ did purposefully withhold these materials, it would be in direct violation of a law Congress passed last year requiring the Justice Department to release all of its files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

“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,” Garcia said in a prepared statement. “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 sexual assault accusation appears in a slide deck released by the DOJ, which features a list of prominent men who have been connected to Epstein; Trump is featured on the list.

A woman whose name has been redacted and is estimated to have been between 13 and 15 years old at the time of the alleged assault claims she was introduced to Trump by Epstein in the 1980s. The woman accuses Trump of forcing her to perform oral sex on him, then hitting her in the head after she bit him.

The NPR report found the DOJ withheld over 50 pages of interviews and notes from conversations the FBI had with the woman who brought forth the accusation. 

In a social media post, the Justice Department said Oversight Democrats “should stop misleading the public while manufacturing outrage.”

“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,” the X post reads.

In his statement, Garcia said he reviewed the unredacted evidence logs on Monday and that Oversight Democrats will be opening a parallel investigation into the matter.

“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,” said Garcia.