According to US media reports, the US government is withholding parts of the "Epstein" files, in which a woman alleges sexual assault against President Donald Trump, German public-law television ARD reported today.
Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, accused the government on Wednesday on the social network X of "the biggest government withholding scandal in recent history". In response to a request, the Justice Department denied withholding documents.
Sexual assault allegations against Trump
According to NPR and the "New York Times", there are indications that the previously unpublished documents in the case include FBI notes, which also contain information about the interrogations of a woman who in 2019 stated that she was sexually abused as a minor by both Epstein and Trump.
The existence of the FBI notes in question became known after the Justice Department published an index listing the documents. According to the index in question, the FBI conducted four interviews in connection with the woman's allegations and summarized each of them, the "New York Times" reports. However, only one of the four summaries has been published, and it contains only allegations against Epstein. The relevant interrogatories' notes are also missing. At the same time, similar notes from interrogations related to accusations against other individuals have already been published.
Trump wanted to prevent the disclosure of the documents
It is not clear why these data are missing. According to the "New York Times", Justice Department officials did not provide a direct explanation when asked. In a letter first obtained by NPR, Robert Garcia demands an explanation from the Justice Department.
In late January, under pressure from Congress, the department released more than three million pages of documents related to the "Epstein" scandal. However, another three million pages were classified as irrelevant to the case and therefore are not available.
Last year, Donald Trump, a former neighbor of Epstein, resisted the disclosure of the files for months until Congress forced them to be opened in the fall. So far, the president has not been proven to have committed any wrongdoing.
At the same time, however, Trump has initiated investigations into the case against other individuals, including former US President Bill Clinton from the Democratic Party. Clinton will be heard by members of Congress on Friday. The hearing of his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is being held today via video conference.
The head of the World Economic Forum has resigned
Meanwhile, it became clear that the president and CEO of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Bjørge Brende, is resigning from his post over the "Epstein" scandal.
The former Norwegian foreign minister announced that he had reached this decision after "careful and long consideration". The World Economic Forum says this is "the right time to continue its important work without distraction".
In early February, the World Economic Forum announced it would investigate Brende's ties to Epstein. According to documents released by the US Department of Justice, Brende had three business lunches with Jeffrey Epstein and communicated with him via email and text messages.
Brende was a long-time member of parliament for the Conservative Party of Norway, as well as the country's minister of the environment, trade and foreign affairs. Since 2017, he has been president of the World Economic Forum, which organizes the famous annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.