Newly released FBI records summarising interviews with an unidentified woman contain allegations that U.S. President Donald Trump attempted to force her to perform a sexual act when she was a teenager, according to documents published by the U.S. Justice Department.
The documents were released after being wrongly labelled as “duplicative” during the sifting of millions of papers, photographs and videos made public by the department in recent months as part of disclosures linked to the investigation into accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The records, which were posted on the department’s website on Thursday, summarise interviews conducted by FBI agents in 2019 with the unidentified woman.
According to the documents, she claimed Mr Trump attempted to force her to perform a sexual act after Epstein introduced her to the future president in New York or New Jersey in the 1980s, when she was an adolescent.
The FBI interviewed the woman four times as part of its investigation into Epstein. During those interviews, she also alleged that Epstein sexually assaulted her.
Her final interview with agents from the FBI was conducted in October 2019, during Mr Trump’s first presidential term. Agents asked whether she would consider providing more information about the president.
According to the interview summary, she replied by asking “what the point would be of providing the information at this point in her life when there was a strong possibility nothing could be done about it.”
The Justice Department has cautioned that some of the documents released contain “untrue and sensationalist claims” about Mr Trump.
Reuters reported it could not independently verify the woman’s allegations.
The documents were first reported by the news organisation Politico.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the disclosures but the Trump administration has since said the claims are untrue.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the allegation as “completely baseless accusations, backed by zero credible evidence”, according to Politico.
Mr Trump has said his association with Epstein ended in the mid-2000s and that he was never aware of the financier’s sexual abuse.
Records previously released by the Justice Department show Mr Trump flew several times on Epstein’s plane in the 1990s, which he has denied.
Meanwhile, scrutiny over the government’s handling of documents related to the Epstein investigation has intensified in Congress. A committee in the House of Representatives has voted to subpoena U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to question her about how the disclosures are being managed.
Tehran had made plans to strike sites in Ukraine after Kyiv attacked an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea, a senior Iranian military adviser has s...
Nauru, the world’s third smallest country, has changed its name to Naoero, the Pacific island nation’s President said. The new name corresponds to...
A cyclosporiasis outbreak, the largest ever recorded in the U.S., has caused its first known deaths, health officials in Michigan said on Monday....
U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has a "last chance" to sign what he described as "a good document", claiming talks are continuing at Tehran's request with backing from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Saturday he would hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Indonesian rescue teams are searching for 28 people still unaccounted for, three days after a passenger ferry caught fire off the coast of Madura island.
Two firefighting helicopters collided while battling a major wildfire in Greece on Sunday, killing two crew members as emergency services continued efforts to contain fires fuelled by extreme heat and dry conditions across Europe.
Tehran had made plans to strike sites in Ukraine after Kyiv attacked an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea, a senior Iranian military adviser has said. Iran refrained from taking action after Kyiv said the strike was a mistake, Mohsen Rezaei told the state IRIB TV channel.
A cyclosporiasis outbreak, the largest ever recorded in the U.S., has caused its first known deaths, health officials in Michigan said on Monday.
Wildfires near Spokane, Washington, have destroyed at least 700 buildings and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate. The fires have been burning for a third day around the state’s second-largest city, officials said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed strengthening the European Union’s external borders and increasing support for Morocco following the arrival of around 50,000 migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week.
Drone attacks damaged a warehouse near Russia’s St. Petersburg and struck a cargo ship near Novorossiysk, injuring three crew members, according to Russian and Turkish authorities.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 4th of August, covering the latest developments.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment