In an article published early Tuesday morning, February 24, National Public Radio's (NPR) Stephen Fowler reported that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) "withheld some Epstein files related to allegations" against President Donald Trump. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has released, with redactions, thousands of files related to the late billionaire financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Yet many questions on Epstein remain unanswered.
According to Fowler, the files that were withheld were "related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor."
Legal expert Lisa Rubin discussed NPR's reporting as well her own DOJ/Epstein files reporting during a February 24 appearance on MS NOW (formerly MSNBC).
Rubin told MS NOW host Ana Cabrera and former Manhattan District Attorney Catherine Christian, "MS NOW can report that there is at least one witness for whom three interviews with the FBI, in rapid succession in 2019, are missing. You might say: What's the big deal about that? Well, the big deal about that is that we can also confirm that that women is the same person who, in a 2025 FBI presentation, is identified to have accused Donald Trump of a sexual assault when she was between 13 and 15 years old."
The MS NOW legal analyst continued, "We know that based on a human source who has confirmed to us that this woman is one in the same. So, I want to make this very clear: There is a woman who, according to the FBI and documents compiled last summer, accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting and physically abusing her…. We have now connected that woman to someone who was interviewed by the FBI four times in 2019."
Rubin stressed, however, that of the "four interview memoranda," only one "can be seen" — and in that one, the "accusations against Trump are not present."
"At the most," Rubin told Cabrera and Christian, "she said she had met Trump on one occasion without detailing it."
The "three other interview memoranda taken by the FBI," according to Rubin, "are not present anywhere in the Epstein files."
Rubin told Cabrera and Christian, "If these were important enough to give to Ghislaine Maxwell's defense, it's unclear to me what the rational is for withholding them from the American public, particularly given the text of the Epstein Files Transparency Act."
