DOJ releases Epstein files containing sexual assault allegations against Trump

Geoff Bennett:

The Justice Department released a batch of previously unreleased documents from the Epstein files that include notes from FBI interviews with a woman who says she was assaulted by President Trump as a minor.

In interviews with the FBI, the woman alleged she was assaulted by Mr. Trump in the 1980s and that she was also a victim of Epstein's. The documents were released after multiple news outlets discovered they were missing from the initial mass release of files.

For more, we're joined now by our justice correspondent, Ali Rogin.

So, Ali, tell us more about what's in these documents.

Ali Rogin:

Geoff, these documents are known as 302 files. There's summaries of three interviews the FBI conducted with this accuser in which she alleges that Epstein brought her to meet Trump some time between when she was age 13 and 15.

She details in very graphic terms Trump's sexual, alleged sexual assault against her and how she fought back. She also says she had two additional interactions with Trump, but before she expanded on that any further, she asked if she could go on to another subject.

During the last interview with the accuser, the FBI asked if she would be comfortable sharing more about her contacts with Trump. She said at the time that she didn't know what the point would be when there was a strong possibility nothing could be done about it. And it's unclear, Geoff, if there was any additional follow-up after that last interview.

Geoff Bennett:

Why weren't these documents initially released?

Ali Rogin:

These three summaries are actually part of a set of four. And that other document was released as part of that initial major tranche we saw in late January.

That summary was an interview in which the accuser focused on Epstein and didn't mention Trump. These others also -- these others, of course, mention the Trump allegations. Reporters caught this discrepancy because descriptions of all four summaries of the interviews were included in a list that was given to attorneys for Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

In a statement released on social media, the Department of Justice said the interviews had been incorrectly deemed duplicative and were subsequently published. The DOJ also says that the unredacted versions of the documents will be available for members of Congress to review.

But reporters have noted that, even still, there are additional documents that remain missing. Independent journalist Roger Sollenberger has been following this closely. And he noted that there are at least 37 pages still missing. That includes notes that informed these summaries, as well as internal communication that would memorialize how the situation with the accuser was resolved.

Geoff Bennett:

What's the White House saying about all of this?

Ali Rogin:

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt put out a statement in which she calls the accusations completely baseless and she says they come from a -- quote -- "sadly disturbed woman who has an extensive criminal history."

Geoff Bennett:

If the accuser is unidentified, how would she know that to be true?

Ali Rogin:

There are some details in the summaries of these interviews in which the accuser talks about her arrests as a minor.

While these allegations remain uncorroborated, there is new reporting Geoff tonight from Julie K. Brown of The Miami Herald, who's broken much of the Epstein story, saying that DOJ officials who spoke to this woman found her to be credible and that they wouldn't have interviewed her four times if they didn't.

Geoff Bennett:

Ali Rogin, thanks so much for this reporting.

Ali Rogin:

You bet.