Under-fire Justice Department says it is ‘reviewing’ after missing Trump pages are discovered in Epstein files release
The Department of Justice said Thursday it is “currently reviewing” documents that appear to be missing from its public release of the Jeffrey Epstein files that detail unverified allegations against President Donald Trump. The DOJ comment comes days after investigative reporting first revealed the omission.
The Justice Department has released millions of files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, including thousands of emails, court documents, photos and videos, many of which include images or references to high-profile figures, including the president.
But the materials that were made public appear to have omitted FBI memos summarizing interviews agents conducted over unverified claims made by a woman who came forward after Epstein’s arrest in 2019, who alleged, according to the files released by the DOJ, that she was sexually assaulted by both Epstein and Trump decades earlier, when she was a minor.
NPR first reported on the missing files Feb. 24, following reporting from independent journalist Roger Sollenberger a week earlier. A review by The Independent of the Epstein files confirmed that those memos do not appear.
The White House directed The Independent’s additional requests for comment to statements from the Justice Department. Trump has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing, and one’s appearance in the files does not suggest otherwise. In a statement on Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Trump has been “totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.”
The president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and insists he cut ties with Epstein years before the wealthy pedophile — who ultimately committed suicide in a New York City jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges — was under investigation. He has characterized efforts to release the full files as a “hoax” perpetuated by Democratic officials to distract from his agenda, and Trump has sued The Wall Street Journal over the publication of an alleged letter to Epstein, a story he labelled “false, malicious and defamatory.”
Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said the committee has now opened a parallel investigation into the issue of the missing files. The existence of the memos was previously revealed in an index that listed the investigative materials related to the woman’s account.
FBI agents performed four interviews in connection with her claim and wrote summaries from each meeting, according to the index. One summary describing her accusations against Epstein was released by the Justice Department but three other summaries appear to be missing.
In its analysis, NPR reviewed serial numbers that appear before and after the pages in question and which have been stamped on documents in the Justice Department’s Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery document logs that were published in the latest batch of files last month. The investigation found dozens of pages catalogued by the Justice Department but not shared publicly, NPR reported and a subsequent analysis by The Independent verified.
Following the woman’s initial claim against Epstein and Trump in 2019, the FBI followed up with interviews on four separate dates that year, according to a previously released evidence catalog in the case against Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Only the FBI’s summary of one of those interviews is included in the files. It is one that does not mention the allegations against Trump.
After viewing un-redacted evidence logs on Monday, Garcia, in a statement, claimed the FBI “illegally withheld” those interviews.
It is unclear what those documents contain and why they are missing from the files. In a statement on Tuesday, the Justice Department said nothing has been erased and the documents could have been withheld because of “an ongoing federal investigation.”
“If files are temporarily pulled for victim redactions or to redact Personally Identifiable Information, then those documents are promptly restored online and are publicly available,” the Justice Department noted.
Following The Independent’s request for comment, a Justice Department spokeswoman sent a pair of social media posts further explaining the review process after news outlets flagged files “they claim appear to be missing.”
“As the Department of Justice has consistently said and has done since the January 30, 2026 publication of the Epstein files, if any member of the public, including victims, reported concerns with information in the pages, the Department would review, make any corrections, and republish online,” the agency said.
“As with all documents that have been flagged by the public, the Department is currently reviewing files within that category of the production,” the statement continued. “Should any document be found to have been improperly tagged in the review process and is responsive to the Act, the Department will of course publish it, consistent with the law.
Under legislation signed into law by Trump in November, the Justice Department was ordered to release all files connected to investigations connected to Epstein by Dec. 19.
The Justice Department has since published millions of pages of files connected to the predator despite blowing deadlines for the full disclosure of all documents in the possession of federal law enforcement.
Trump — whose name has appeared thousands of times in the files – socialized with Epstein throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Epstein once described himself as the president’s “closest friend.”
“Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the Justice Department said in a statement last month as the administration published a vast trove of materials.
Those claims are “unfounded and false,” the statement said.
