An investigation by NPR has revealed that the US Department of Justice withheld Epstein files containing allegations that President Donald Trump sexually abused a minor.
The report also claimed that DoJ also removed other files in which Trump is mentioned along with accusations against Jeffrey Epstein.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed the US Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support in November, compels the Justice Department to release all unclassified materials related to the sex offender in a “searchable and downloadable format”.
But several of these documents, including more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, were withheld. Excerpts from interviews with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse when she was a minor decades ago has also not been released.
Explaining its investigative process, NPR stated that it went through “multiple sets of unique serial numbers appearing before and after the pages in question, stamped onto documents in the Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery document logs in the latest tranche of documents published at the end of January.”
The DoJ has maintained that any documents that are not published are privileged, are duplicates or relate to an ongoing probe.
A CNN review revealed that three of the missing FBI interviews related to a woman who accused Trump of sexually abusing her in 1983 when she was 13.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein controversy. In the past, the White House called the allegations against Trump “false and sensationalist”. Earlier, the DOJ stated that “some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump.”
US Justice Department withheld Epstein files alleging Trump sexually abused a minor girl decades ago: NPR report
