The US Department of Justice has published Epstein files – but dozens of pages are missing. According to a new report, loopholes specifically target allegations against Donald Trump.
02/25/2026, 03:5802/25/2026, 03:58
Anna-Lena Janzen / t-online
According to an investigation by the US broadcaster NPR, the US Department of Justice has not published documents from the so-called Epstein files that relate to allegations against President Donald Trump. According to the report, the missing documents include FBI interviews and notes on a woman who says Trump sexually abused her when she was a minor.
NPR reports that more than 50 pages of FBI interview transcripts and conversation notes are not publicly available – even though a law requires their publication. The sender evaluated serial numbers on documents in the Epstein database, in FBI case files, emails and indexes of evidence documents. Dozens of pages were identified that were cataloged but not made public.
According to NPR, the more than three million pages of documents recently released show that a woman said Epstein introduced her to Trump in the 1980s when she was about 13 years old. An FBI document states that Trump forced her to “press her head onto his exposed penis, which she then bit. Trump then hit her in the head and threw her out.
According to NPR, this woman was interviewed by the FBI four times. However, only the first interview from July 24, 2019 is publicly available; Trump is not mentioned in it. After evaluating three different sets of serial numbers, a total of 53 pages of interview documents and notes were missing from the public database.
watson reports on these and other questions about the US Department of Justice’s handling of the files.
In other published documents, an FBI employee noted in July 2025 that Trump’s name could be found in more extensive case files. “An identified victim claimed abuse by Trump, but ultimately refused to cooperate,” it says.
A second woman who testified in the trial against Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell said, according to an FBI report, that Epstein took her to Trump’s luxury Mar-a-Lago estate when she was a minor. An interview report states that Epstein said to Trump: “That’s a good one, right?” In a later civil lawsuit, the woman added that both men laughed and that she felt uncomfortable, but was too young to understand why.
According to NPR, parts of these documents were temporarily removed from the public database and later reinstated. The Justice Department told the broadcaster that files would be temporarily removed if victims or their lawyers requested additional review.
Department of Justice: No files withheld
The Justice Department did not initially answer specific questions from NPR about the missing files. After the research was published, a spokeswoman explained that the documents that had not been published were legally protected, were duplicates or were part of ongoing investigations.
There are many question marks surrounding Pam Bondi’s integrity as justice minister.Image: keystone
In a February 14 letter to Congress, first reported by Politico, Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, emphasized that no documents had been withheld or redacted “due to embarrassment, reputational damage, or political sensitivity – including with regard to government officials, public figures, or foreign dignitaries.”
Democrat confirms NPR investigation
The ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, said after the NPR article was published that he had seen the “unredacted evidence transcripts.” “Democrats on the oversight committee can confirm that the Justice Department appears to have unlawfully withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accuses President Trump of heinous crimes,” NPR quoted him as saying. Democratic committee members now wanted to further investigate why the documents in question were not made public.
The White House has so far rejected any allegations against Trump in connection with Epstein’s criminal activities. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told NPR again that Trump had been “fully exonerated on everything related to Epstein.” In addition, the Justice Department had previously announced that the Epstein files contained “untrue and sensationalized allegations” about the president.
In the approximately 3.5 million documents that the Justice Department has published in recent months, the president’s name appears in numerous papers. Epstein, who was accused of years of sexual abuse and human trafficking of minors and who moved in elite circles around the world, was found dead in his New York prison cell in 2019. Authorities classified his death as a suicide.
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