Oversight Dem Says DOJ ‘Appears to Have Illegally Withheld FBI Interviews’ Around Trump Accusation
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee said Tuesday he is opening an investigation into the Justice Department’s possible withholding of documents relating to an accusation against President Trump in the Epstein files.
“Over the past several weeks, Democratic watchdogs have been investigating the FBI’s handling of 2019 allegations of sexual assault of a minor made against President Donald Trump by a survivor,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said in a statement. “Yesterday, I reviewed the Department of Justice’s unredacted evidence records. Watchdog Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes.”
The statement builds on a report from NPR, which found that the public records database was missing more than 50 pages of interviews and notes from conversations with a woman who told the FBI that Trump abused her when she was a minor. She said that in 1983, when she was around 13, Trump “forced her head down to his exposed penis which she then bit. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out.”
According to NPR, only one of the four interviews the woman participated in with the FBI — in which she did not mention Trump — is in the database.
“@TheJusticeDept repeatedly stated publicly AND directly to @NPR before deadline – NOTHING was removed,” the DOJ tweeted Tuesday. “If files are temporarily retrieved to redact victims or to redact personally identifiable information, then those records are promptly restored online and are publicly available. ALL responsive records have been produced unless a record falls into one of the following categories: duplicate, privileged, or part of an ongoing federal investigation.”
He previously said the files “contain false and sensationalist allegations against President Trump” and told NPR that all of the documents he withheld were either privileged, duplicates or related to an ongoing federal investigation.
The documents, including those that name Trump, have been deleted and replaced in the public file database. The DOJ justified part of this move by saying it was acting in accordance with victims’ wishes for privacy, although many documents released by the department did not redact victims’ identifying information. The DOJ is legally required to release the documents after Congress passed and Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November.
Members of Congress have viewed unredacted versions of the Epstein files in recent weeks. Many Democrats are bringing women who have accused Jeffey Epstein, or those in his orbit, of sexual abuse to the State of the Union on Tuesday evening.
Hegseth’s Vengeance Crusade Continues
Lawyers for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth informed the court Tuesday that they will appeal U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s decision granting a preliminary injunction to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ). The ruling temporarily blocked Hegseth from reconsidering Kelly’s rank (and corresponding retirement benefits) in response to Kelly’s criticism of the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard to blue cities and boat strikes in Venezuela. Kelly sued Hegseth after opening an investigation into the senator.
Leon had chastised the administration, saying it “trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms.”
Meanwhile, Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host turned U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, dropped her effort to file suit against Kelly and the five other Democratic lawmakers who participated in the video, NBC News reported Monday. The news comes weeks after a federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict the lawmakers over the video, in which the group of Democrats reminded service members that they cannot follow illegal orders.
Passionate bigotry after Olympic gold
The U.S. men’s hockey team continues to deal with the fallout from the release of videos showing the players partying with FBI Director Kash Patel in their locker room and laughing alongside Trump, lamenting that he had to invite the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team to the White House or he would be “impeached.”
“People are so negative and they just try to find a reason to put them down and make something out of next to nothing,” team member Jack Hughes told the Daily Mail, adding: “People are so negative about things. I think everyone in this locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them and we know how we feel about them, they feel about us.”
“It’s all so political,” Hughes lamented.
The men’s team (apolitically) accepted Trump’s invitation to the State of the Union, as well as a visit to the White House. The women’s team — which has the same number of gold medals as the men’s team, even though it has only been in the Olympics for a quarter of the time as the men’s team — reluctantly declined Trump’s invitation, citing scheduling conflicts.
The State of the Union and Trump’s state of mind
We monitor so you don’t have to. Follow along or catch up with the TPM team, as we cover a speech that Trump has already promised will be “long.” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) will deliver the Democratic rebuttal.
In case you missed it
Follow our live coverage of tonight’s State of the Union address here: Trump will face the nation amid falling polls and tariff concerns
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NEW from Emine Yücel: Five points on the Tony Gonzales affair allegations disrupting the Texas primaries
Morning memo: Aileen Cannon’s latest misdeed could have been much worse. No, really.
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GOP lawmaker quietly questioned ‘disturbing’ East Wing demolition
