An FBI interview dated June 19, 2020, later folded into the Justice Department’s Epstein-file releases, contains allegations that Trump Tower served as a recruiting ground for young women in the early 1990s. The account includes claims about men approaching a
For months, she said she kept seeing the same men in Trump Tower’s public atrium—waiting, watching, and then, somehow, always making their next move.
In an FBI interview dated June 19. 2020. and formally filed in January 2021. a woman described being targeted in the early 1990s at the Manhattan skyscraper. The woman told federal agents that two men openly operated as recruiters for Donald Trump. approaching young women in the building and steering them toward a party linked to Jeffrey Epstein’s address. according to an FBI interview buried within millions of government documents released as part of the Epstein files.
The woman said she worked at the Charles Jourdan shoe store in Trump Tower while attending night classes. She described studying during lunch breaks in the building’s public atrium—space made accessible to the public under an agreement that allowed Trump Tower to exceed standard zoning limits.
The first encounter came after a colleague pointed out the two men who were frequently approaching women. The woman told investigators one man was dark-haired and resembled Antonio Banderas. while the other was blond and appeared to look like a surfer. She said one of them asked whether she knew Donald Trump. then told her the future president was meeting people that day. In her account. the dark-haired man suggested she did not need to work so hard to attend school and winked while inviting her to meet Trump.
She told the FBI the moment felt lewd, and that she believed the men were acting as recruiters for Trump. When she declined, he offered an alternative invitation to a party. The woman said the invitation listed Epstein’s address and told her she could bring a female friend who looked like her. but that she could not bring a male companion.
After the woman said she turned down both invitations, she told federal investigators the men responded by saying they knew where she worked and could find her. She said she never reported the encounter to police because she did not believe she would be taken seriously.
Even though she said the men never approached her again, she described continuing to see them for months. During that period, she claimed she regularly observed girls she estimated were 15 or 16 years old with one of the men before they boarded an escalator.
The interview also included a second allegation the woman said another Trump Tower employee told her. In that account. the employee’s daughter was allegedly taken upstairs to meet Trump while waiting for her mother to finish work. The employee later claimed something terrible happened during that encounter—she said the daughter dropped out of school. became involved with drugs. and later died by suicide.
The woman told investigators she learned of the second allegation at a later conversation at a cocktail party and did not witness any of the earlier events.
How the FBI interview reached the record—and why it is now back in the spotlight
The Trump Tower recruitment allegation emerged from an FBI interview that, years later, became part of the broader Epstein-file releases. The woman said that years after Epstein’s crimes became public—and after watching a 60 Minutes report on Trump’s relationship with Stormy Daniels—she contacted a law firm. The firm referred her to the FBI.
The interview was ultimately included among millions of documents released by Trump’s Justice Department as part of the Epstein files. The release included metadata showing that the interview was removed from the DOJ’s public files after its initial publication before later being restored.
Its reappearance comes as questions intensified over whether Trump-related material was withheld from earlier disclosures. An NPR investigation found that the Justice Department removed or withheld files involving President Donald Trump from public releases. including more than 50 pages of FBI interviews and notes connected to a woman who accused him of abuse when she was a minor. NPR reported that some records reportedly remained unreleased despite legal requirements.
NPR also reported that in mid-2025, the FBI circulated several Epstein-related allegations mentioning Trump. Most were deemed unverifiable or not credible. but at least one lead was forwarded to the bureau’s Washington field office for follow-up and included in an internal presentation identifying prominent figures connected to the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell investigations.
In congressional testimony seeking explanations, lawmakers point to documents and directives tied to how Trump-related mentions were handled.
FBI staff were allegedly told to flag Trump mentions
Questions about omissions sharpened after reports that FBI personnel reviewing Epstein records were instructed to identify references to Trump. Sen. Dick Durbin. the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. released a letter alleging agents were told to “flag” mentions of Trump. When questioned by the committee, former Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to identify who issued the directive.
Subsequent DOJ records confirmed that agents received those instructions.
Congress is pressing for more accountability
House Oversight Democrats said they plan to pursue subpoenas for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel over their roles in the Epstein investigations. They also intend to seek additional document releases.
Rep. Robert Garcia said after reviewing unredacted DOJ evidence logs. “Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes.” Garcia added. “I think there are still 50 percent of the documents that have not been released to the public or the Congress.”.
Committee Chair James Comer said Bondi’s appearance marked the committee’s 13th interview related to Epstein. Comer said, “The government has failed the survivors,” adding, “We’re taking this investigation seriously.”
An analytical thread running through the filings
The documents now show how one woman’s claims of recruitment inside Trump Tower were captured in an FBI interview dated June 19. 2020. filed in January 2021. and later folded into the Epstein-file releases that congressional critics say were incomplete earlier on—part of a broader fight over what was withheld. what was restored. and what names were supposed to be flagged.
FBI Epstein files Trump Tower Donald Trump Jeffrey Epstein Ghislaine Maxwell Pam Bondi Todd Blanche Kash Patel Dick Durbin James Comer Robert Garcia Charles Jourdan Stormy Daniels 60 Minutes Interlochen Center for the Arts