The Justice Department on Thursday released three previously undisclosed interview summaries from the Epstein files containing uncorroborated allegations involving President Donald Trump. The documents include statements from a woman who alleged she was assaulted by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and by Trump when she was a minor, The Washington Times reported.
In the interview summaries, the woman claimed she bit Trump after he attempted to force her to perform oral sex. She also alleged that Trump hit her after the incident.
The Justice Department said the interview summaries had originally been withheld from the January release of Epstein-related documents because they were mistakenly labeled as duplicates.
“After this was brought to our attention, we reviewed the entire batch with the similar coding and discovered 15 documents were incorrectly coded as duplicative,” the department said.
Democrats in Congress are investigating whether the Justice Department withheld the files because they contain four FBI interview reports, known as 302s, involving a woman who accused Trump of sexual assault.
Trump has denied wrongdoing related to Epstein allegations and has not been charged with a crime in connection with them. Also, the same trove of documents note that Trump alerted authorities to Epstein in the mid-2000s after he suspected the financier of indecent behavior.
The newly released interviews were conducted in 2019 after Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges.
The woman, whose name is redacted in the files, alleged she was between 13 and 15 years old when Epstein brought her to meet Trump.
She told investigators the meeting took place in what she described as a very tall building with large rooms in either New York or New Jersey.
The woman also claimed she later received threats that she believed were directed by Epstein or possibly by another person she referred to as “the other one,” whom investigators understood to mean Trump. Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting trial.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the allegations. “These are completely baseless accusations, backed by zero credible evidence, from a sadly disturbed woman who has an extensive criminal history,” Leavitt said.
Before the documents were released, congressional Democrats accused the Justice Department of violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The law requires the government to release investigative records related to Epstein while protecting the identities of victims.
When many Epstein files were released in January, officials warned that some materials submitted to investigators may contain false or unverified claims.
“This production may include fake or falsely submitted images, documents or videos, as everything that was sent to the FBI by the public was included in the production that is responsive to the Act,” the Justice Department said.
“Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the department said.
“To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
Lawmakers from both parties have expressed frustration over delays in releasing Epstein-related records.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted Thursday to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi for additional materials related to the case.
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers stepped down from his teaching posts at Harvard University as renewed scrutiny intensified over his past ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Harvard announced last month that Summers would resign from his faculty positions at the end of the academic year and relinquish his University Professorship, the institution’s highest academic honor. According to the Harvard Crimson, Summers described the decision as “difficult” but did not publicly cite a specific reason for stepping down.
The timing of his departure coincides with heightened attention following the release of Justice Department documents by House lawmakers that shed additional light on Epstein’s network and associates.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
