Topline
Democrats accused the White House of a “cover up” Thursday following revelations that documents are missing from the Epstein files that concern abuse allegations against President Trump—building on claims the Department of Justice has favored the rich and powerful in its release of the files.
President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address during a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on February 24, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., called on Trump to testify before the House Oversight Committee, accusing the Justice Department of continuing “to lead a White House cover-up” and demanding the agency release files detailing new accusations against the president, he said in a press conference Thursday.
Garcia was referring to summaries of three of four interviews the FBI conducted in 2019 with a woman who accused Trump and Epstein of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s, when she was a minor, that were omitted from the vast trove of documents released by the Justice Department, multiple outlets reported this week.
It’s unclear why the files weren’t published, but the Justice Department said in a statement Wednesday, “ALL responsive documents have been produced unless a document falls within one of the following categories: duplicates, privileged, or part of an ongoing federal investigation.”
The missing files were first reported on Substack by journalist Roger Sollenberger on Feb. 15, with follow up reports and additional details by NPR, The New York Times and other outlets this week, prompting significant criticism from Democrats, including Garcia, who said he personally viewed the unredacted files at Justice Department headquarters and corroborated reports the interviews with the Trump accuser are missing from the publicly available files.
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi this week, Garcia demanded the Justice Department “specify the exact grounds for the withholding of FBI interviews containing specific allegations against President Trump, as well as provide an update on the status of any ongoing investigations into allegations of sexual assault against President Trump.”
The missing files are part of a slow drip of revelations about redactions made by the Justice Department in the Epstein files as reporters and the public have had time to go through the millions of documents released in two separate troves on Dec. 19 and Jan. 30, and lawmakers were permitted to begin reviewing the unredacted files at Justice Department headquarters.
How The Story Broke
Sollengerger’s report on Feb. 15 was the first to reveal the FBI interviewed the Trump accuser, indicating the agency took the allegation seriously, despite repeated claims it received no credible accusations against Trump. The alleged assault, which took place between 1983 and 1985, when the victim was between 13- and 15-years-old is detailed in an internal FBI report the FBI compiled last summer of “prominent names” raised in the Epstein investigation. According to the report, the accuser alleged Trump attempted to force her to perform oral sex, and hit her when she bit him. She said Epstein introduced her to Trump. Sollenberger noted in his report there was “a seeming paucity of information about this victim in the Epstein files.” On Tuesday, NPR revealed 53 total pages of documents related to the Trump accuser were missing from the files. NPR traced the information from the report to a list of discovery documents transferred to Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer that indicates the FBI conducted four interviews with the accuser, but notes on only one, conducted in July 2019, appear in the files. The interview details accusations against Epstein, but does not mention Trump. The New York Times corroborated the NPR investigation on Wednesday, reporting that an FBI index shows the agency conducted four interviews with the accuser between July and October of 2019 and took notes on each one. The Times also found that serial numbers stamped on individual pages in the files indicate more than 50 pages of investigatory materials related to her claims are missing. Garcia said Tuesday he also reviewed the unredacted files at Justice Department headquarters and “can confirm the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes.”
How Has The Doj Responded?
The Justice Department did not respond to Sollenberger’s inquiry before his piece was published, he reported. It also did not give an on-the-record-response to NPR. After NPR’s article was published, the DOJ pointed to previous statements that said only documents that are privileged, duplicates or related to an ongoing federal investigation are omitted. On Wednesday, an unnamed DOJ spokesperson said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal in response to reports of the missing Trump materials, it “will of course publish” any files found to have been improperly omitted, “consistent with the law.” The Justice Department has already reversed some of the redactions, including those pertaining to multiple prominent figures such as billionaire Les Wexner, and has retroactively redacted victim information it said was overlooked amid criticism from lawmakers who flagged them as potential violations of the law.
Contra
The Trump accuser whose interviews were omitted from the files was deemed ineligible for an Epstein victims compensation fund, according to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, citing court records. She joined a lawsuit against Epstein’s estate in 2019, but dropped her claim in 2021, though it’s unclear why.
Key Background
The Justice Department released its first tranche of Epstein files on Dec. 19, the 30-day deadline for doing so after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. It released a larger, final trove of 3 million files on Jan. 30. Democrats allege the Justice Department flouted the law by releasing only a portion of the files in its possession, after the deadline, botching the redaction process and removing some documents after they were published. The Trump administration has sought to dismiss the ongoing controversy surrounding its handling of the Epstein files as an overreaction by Democrats. Trump has largely refused to discuss the issue, and has given oddly sympathetic reactions to others, including former President Bill Clinton and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, being implicated, telling reporters when Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested last week on suspicion of misconduct while in public office, “I think it’s very sad.”
Further Reading
House Democrats Investigating Reports DOJ Withheld Epstein Files Involving Trump (Forbes)
Bondi Unleashes On Democrats During Hostile House Hearing: ‘I’m Not Going To Get In The Gutter’ (Forbes)
Massie Says ‘Significant’ Epstein Files Were Shielded From Lawmakers Before They Could View Unredacted (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2026/02/26/outrage-over-epstein-files-cover-up-grows-dems-call-for-trump-to-testify/
