The Justice Department withheld some Jeffrey Epstein files linked to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor and removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Epstein also mentioned Trump, an NPR investigation found.
Some files did not become public despite a law mandating their release. These included what appeared to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews and notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor.
NPR reviewed 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. NPR’s investigation found dozens of pages that appeared to be catalogued by the Justice Department but not shared publicly.
The Justice Department declined to answer NPR’s questions on the record about these specific files, what was in them, and why they were not published.
Other files scrubbed from public view pertained to a separate woman who was a key witness for the prosecution in the criminal trial of Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking. Maxwell was seeking clemency from Trump.
Some of those documents were briefly taken down and put back online last week, while others remained hidden, according to NPR’s comparison of the initial dataset from Jan. 30 with document metadata of those files currently on the Justice Department website.
When asked for comment about the missing pages and the accusations against the president, a White House spokeswoman told NPR that Trump "has done more for Epstein's victims than anyone before him."
"Just as President Trump has said, he's been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told NPR in a statement. "And by releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee's subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein's Democrat friends, President Trump has done more for Epstein's victims than anyone before him. Meanwhile, Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries and Stacey Plaskett have yet to explain why they were soliciting money and meetings from Epstein after he was a convicted sex offender."
The White House previously pointed to a statement from the Justice Department that said the Epstein files contained "untrue and sensationalist claims" about the president.
In a letter to members of Congress on Feb. 14 first reported by Politico, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted that no records were withheld or redacted "on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary."
In the last two weeks, as lawmakers began to view unredacted copies of Epstein files, members of both parties criticised the way the Trump administration handled the release of the files. They also continued to accuse the Justice Department of violating the law and operating without transparency in redacting information.
According to the newly released files, the FBI internally circulated Epstein-related allegations that mentioned Trump in late July and early August 2025. The list, collected from the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center, included numerous salacious allegations. Agents marked most of the accusations as unverifiable or not credible.
One lead was sent to the FBI’s Washington Office with the purpose of setting up an interview with the accuser. The lead was included in an internal PowerPoint slide deck detailing "prominent names" in the Epstein and Maxwell investigations last fall.
The woman who directly named Trump in her abuse allegation claimed that around 1983, when she was around 13 years old, Epstein introduced her to Trump "who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out."
Out of more than three million pages of files released by the Justice Department in recent months, this specific allegation against Trump only appeared in copies of the FBI list of claims and the DOJ slideshow.
A review of FBI case file logs and discovery documents turned over to Maxwell and her attorneys in the criminal case against her pointed to one place the claim could have come from and how serious investigators took it.
The FBI interviewed this Trump and Epstein accuser four times, according to an FBI "Serial Report" and a list of Non-Testifying Witness Material in the Maxwell case that were also released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Only the first interview, conducted July 24, 2019, was in the public database. That interview did not mention Trump.
Of 15 documents listed in a log of the Maxwell discovery material for this first accuser, only seven were in the Epstein files database. Those missing also included notes that accompanied three of the interviews. The discrepancy in the file for the Trump accuser was first reported by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger.
According to NPR’s review of three different sets of serial numbers stamped onto the files, there appeared to be 53 pages of interview documents and notes missing from the public Epstein database.
In the first interview document, the woman discussed ways Epstein abused her as a girl and, in identifying him to investigators, showed a cropped photo of the disgraced financier. Her attorney said it was cropped because she "was concerned about implicating additional individuals, and specifically any that were well known, due to fear of retaliation."
The FBI agents noted it was a "widely distributed photograph" of Epstein with Trump.