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Roger Sollenberger<\/p>\n
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On Wednesday, I reported that the Justice Department had removed from its Epstein file database<\/a> a key document about a woman who told the FBI<\/a> that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her when she was a child. By Thursday evening, it was once again live.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear why the DOJ deleted the document in the first place. ((Here\u2019s proof<\/a> the document had been taken down.) It\u2019s also unclear why they put it back up after my reporting, which included a screenshot of the relevant information and a link to an internet archive<\/a> of the full record. The information in the document pertaining to the Trump accuser \u2014 whom the DOJ identifies as a victim of Jeffrey Epstein in the early-mid 1980s \u2014 doesn\u2019t appear altered in any way. (Compare the record on the DOJ site today<\/a> with the version they removed<\/a>.)<\/p>\n However, the existence of this record \u2014 more specifically, the public\u2019s knowledge of its existence \u2014 carries significant implications when it comes to the president and his DOJ\u2019s posture against Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because this document shows the FBI conducted not just one<\/a> but four interviews with Trump\u2019s accuser<\/a>. And, as I reported Wednesday<\/a>, while the government gave all four of those interviews to Maxwell\u2019s legal team ahead of her trial, the government gave only one of those four interviews<\/a> to us in the Epstein files.<\/p>\n In other words, this document shows that, in choosing to withhold three of the four interviews from the Epstein files, the DOJ has granted Maxwell potential blackmail on the sitting president of the United States. (That depends, of course, on what the victim said in those interviews, but it doesn\u2019t look good for Trump<\/a>. However, if the victim \u201cexonerated\u201d him, the public needs to know that as well, and you\u2019d think he\u2019d see common ground there.)<\/p>\n Maxwell has held this leverage over Trump since her team received the files in batches from DOJ prosecutors as a standard part of her trial prep in 2021, in April, July, and October, the record shows. (The victim was suing Epstein\u2019s estate at the time, settling with a reported payout<\/a> in December 2021.) But if DOJ had released those interviews with the Epstein files, as it appears the law absolutely requires, any leverage Maxwell had there would be gone. Instead, Trump\u2019s DOJ \u2014 starring Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, and Kash Patel \u2014 let her keep it.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, the American people still wouldn\u2019t even know<\/em> that Maxwell could potentially be blackmailing the president with these sworn victim statements if it weren\u2019t for the existence of precisely this document \u2014 the document I caught DOJ removing from its public database.<\/p>\n Notably, you can ascertain the existence of the three missing FBI interviews without this document<\/a> \u2014 that\u2019s not why this document is special.<\/p>\n The record that disappeared \u2014 and is now back online \u2014 is an evidence catalog showing that those interviews were among the \u201cnon-witness material\u201d that DOJ prosecutors produced for Maxwell\u2019s defense team. In other words, this document is proof that Maxwell\u2019s attorneys have those three interviews. It\u2019s also proof that all four of those interviews \u2014 part of DOJ\u2019s Maxwell trial evidence \u2014 should in fact have been released to the public in the Epstein files.<\/p>\n Why didn\u2019t Trump\u2019s DOJ release all of the victim\u2019s FBI interviews? Why would the DOJ be fine with Maxwell\u2019s attorneys holding these records while apparently denying them to the American public in defiance of the law? The DOJ should release those interviews to the public, an act that would, coincidentally, considerably weaken the hand that we now know Maxwell \u2014 perhaps uniquely \u2014 holds over the president.<\/p>\n Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking children with Epstein in 2022, sat for a proffer session with Deputy Attorney General and former Trump criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche in July (despite a previous proffer session via her lawyers before her trial), then got relocated without explanation<\/a> to a minimum-security facility this summer.<\/p>\n Trump has said multiple times<\/a> in recent months<\/a> that he would consider clemency for Maxwell. Earlier this month, she took the fifth in closed-door congressional testimony, though she used the opportunity to inveigle Trump for a pardon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maxwell\u2019s lead counsel, David Oscar Markus, said in a statement<\/a> to the House Oversight Committee at the time that his client \u201cis prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement also said that Trump and former President Bill Clinton \u201care innocent of any wrongdoing.\u201d However, Markus said, \u201cMs. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n