Trump accuser interviews to FBI missing from Epstein files: Report

The vast trove of documents released by the justice department from its investigations into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein failed to include some key materials related to a woman who made an accusation against President Donald Trump, according to a review by NYT.The materials are FBI memos summarising interviews the bureau did in connection to claims made in 2019 by a woman who came forward after Epstein's arrest to say she had been sexually assaulted by both Trump and the financier decades earlier, when she was a minor.The existence of the memos was revealed in an index listing the investigative materials related to her account, which was publicly released. According to that index, the FBI conducted four interviews in connection with her claims and wrote summaries about each one.

But only one summary of the four interviews, which describes her accusations against Epstein, was released by the justice department. The other three are missing.The public files also do not include the underlying interview notes, which the index also indicates are part of the file. The justice department released similar interview notes in connection to FBI interviews with other potential witnesses and victims.

It is unclear why the materials are missing. The justice department said in a statement Monday that "the only materials that have been withheld were either privileged or duplicates." In a new statement on Tuesday, the department also noted that documents could have been withheld because of "an ongoing federal investigation." Officials did not directly address why the memos related to the woman's claim were not released.The woman's description of being assaulted by Trump in the 1980s is among a number of uncorroborated accusations against well-known men, including the president, that are contained in the millions of documents released by the justice department.When the files were made public late last month, officials described the trove as including all material sent by the public to the FBI. "Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election," the department said in a statement at the time, calling such claims "unfounded and false." Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. In a statement on Tuesday, a White House spokeswoman, Abigail Jackson, said Trump had "been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein." A lawyer who previously represented the woman in a lawsuit against Epstein's estate declined to comment.