The big new controversy over the Epstein files, explained |
The big new controversy over the Epstein files, explained
When the Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of documents relating to the convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein on Jan. 30, the sheer volume of the material was dizzying.
It always seemed plausible that important elements of the release would take time to emerge as reporters and researchers dug into the massive trawl.
This is exactly what has happened. Major news outlets this week picked up on reporting, which first came from an independent journalist, about potentially vital documents that appear not to have been made publicly available.
It’s a complicated story. Here’s what you need to know.
What is the core of the controversy?
Documents outlining three of four FBI interviews apparently related to a woman who accused President Trump, as well as Epstein, of sexually assaulting her decades ago, seem to be missing from the latest release.
The woman made the claims in 2019, but they date back to the 1980s, when she was a minor.
Her allegation against Trump is uncorroborated. The president has denied all wrongdoing in relation to his friendship with Epstein, which ended roughly two decades ago.
Also, The Guardian late on Thursday published a story in which it said its reporters had obtained the missing documents and that the woman’s claims “at times appear outlandish.”
What’s the broader explanation?
The latest release of the Epstein files includes a 2021 catalogue of material provided to Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team.
Maxwell, Epstein’s sometime-girlfriend, was tried and convicted of sex trafficking charges at the end of that year. The data set lists “non-testifying witness material.”
It includes anonymized reference to four interviews relating to one person, who has the case number 3501.045.
Of those four interviews, only one appears to have been publicly released.
In that interview, the woman makes detailed allegations of rape by Epstein but makes no allegation of abuse against Trump.
The president is mentioned only in relation to a friend sending the woman a photograph. In her interview with FBI agents, the woman notes she still has this photo saved in her cellphone messages but asks if she can crop it so it shows only Epstein.
When she was asked why she wanted to crop the photo, she hesitated, and the notes reflect that her “attorney advised [she] was concerned about implicating additional individuals, and specifically any that were well known, due to fear of retaliation.” The photo, according to the FBI account of the interview, was “a widely distributed photograph” of Epstein and Trump.
The strand of the Epstein story centering on this woman was first brought to light by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger.
Sollenberger, and subsequently outlets including NPR, The New York Times and CNN, have traced details about the woman in question that match a woman who made the serious but unproven allegation of sexual assault against Trump.
Some commentators have pointed to the fact that four interviews took place as a sign that investigators believed the woman to be credible. But her credibility would not, in itself, prove any specific claim to be true. Furthermore, The Guardian’s story noted that it had “identified a woman matching the biographical details in the FBI records. She has faced several fraud and theft charges in Washington and, in 2023, a felony charge for the exploitation of an elderly person in Georgia. It is not clear how those cases were resolved.”
What does the DOJ and the White House have to say?
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is adamant that it has done nothing wrong and is not hiding anything for nefarious reasons.
In one social media post earlier this week, the DOJ said that “NOTHING has been deleted.” The post asserted: “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.”
This has not quelled disquiet around the story, however.
The Hill reported on Thursday that several Republican senators were putting pressure on the DOJ to release all possible files. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), asked whether material containing this woman’s allegations should be held back, replied: “I don’t know how else to say it: Release the documents.”
On Wednesday, the DOJ said that it was conducting a review because “several individuals and news outlets have recently flagged files related to documents produced to Ghislaine Maxwell.”
It added that if any file was discovered to have been kept out of the public eye when it should not have been, “the Department will of course publish it, consistent with the law.”
Trump has not addressed this specific element of the controversy in any in-depth way, but, speaking with reporters last week, he claimed he had “been totally exonerated” in the Epstein matter.
White House statements to multiple news outlets this week have echoed that claim.
What about Democrats?
Democrats, especially those serving on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has been probing the Epstein matter, have been scathing.
On Wednesday, the House Oversight Democrats’s account on the social platform X asserted: “The Department of Justice continues to change its story. The facts are clear: documents related to a survivor who accused Donald Trump and Jeffery Epstein of abuse when she was a minor are missing from the released files.”
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the committee’s ranking member, told MS NOW on Tuesday that he had gone to the Department of Justice in person to probe the matter further.
“Those additional documents seem to be missing,” Garcia said, “and that’s something that I confirmed as of yesterday in my visit to the Department of Justice. The idea that there is a possible cover-up or that we are hiding actual documentation of an alleged crime by the President of the United States … is incredibly serious.”
Where does the story go from here?
The focus on the story has become so intense that pressure for disclosure of the interview notes is intense. However, the new reporting from The Guardian may dilute at least some of that pressure.
Meanwhile, the problem for those pressing for disclosure is, if the DOJ says it has valid reasons for not making the interviews public, it is hard to definitively prove them wrong.
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