The US Justice Department on Thursday made public previously unreleased FBI records detailing interviews with a woman who alleges that President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her after being introduced to him by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to the department, the documents were inadvertently classified as "duplicative" during earlier congressionally mandated releases of Epstein-related files.
The newly disclosed records contain accounts from multiple FBI interviews conducted in 2019 with the woman, who claimed she was assaulted by both Epstein and Trump when she was aged between 13 and 15. During one of those interviews, she recounted how Epstein had taken her to "either New York or New Jersey" where she met Trump. She told investigators that she bit Trump when he tried to force her to perform oral sex on him. The woman further stated that she and people close to her had received threatening phone calls over the years from individuals she believed were connected to Epstein, warning her to remain silent.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein allegations. The Justice Department has previously noted that some of the released documents "contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump". White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the woman's claims as "completely baseless accusations, backed by zero credible evidence".
Democratic lawmakers have accused the Trump administration of suppressing details from the Epstein investigation that could prove damaging to the president. On Wednesday, a House committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about the department's management of the files. While the Justice Department had earlier released a log confirming the interviews took place, it had only provided a summary of one of the four sessions, in which the woman accused Epstein of molesting her as a teenager.
Trump has maintained that his relationship with Epstein ended in the mid-2000s and that he had no knowledge of the financier's sexual abuse. However, previously released departmental records indicate that Trump flew on Epstein's aircraft on several occasions during the 1990s — something the president has denied. After Epstein first faced allegations of sexual misconduct, Trump contacted the Palm Beach police chief to say that "everyone has known he's been doing this," according to an FBI interview record.
