Interviews & Testimony: Research Tools and Source Guide
What do you want to find?
Use this guide to find an interview report, deposition, hearing transcript or recorded statement, then trace it to the public record. The most useful search result is one you can reopen at the exact page or timestamp and read in context.
Find a transcript
Testimony
Credit: Tommy Carstensen
Find congressional interviews and civil depositions, then follow the transcript or official PDF.
Free archive
Open toolDirectory labels need their own source review.
How to use & cautions
Tommy Carstensen’s Testimony directory
Open Testimony, use its type filter and choose the relevant session. Follow the transcript or official PDF link. Check the document’s title page for its date and proceeding type before using the directory’s summary. Analytical labels on a directory page are the publisher’s interpretation and need their own source review.
- Tool
- Tommy Carstensen’s Testimony directory
- What it helps you find
- Congressional interviews and civil depositions, with transcript or source links.
- Best time to use it
- You know the proceeding or date and want a route to the complete record.
Tommy’s FAQ states that the archive is free. The cited Epstein Data pages are publicly readable without an account prompt. DOJ and FBI public release pages do not charge for their posted documents; the DOJ Library has an age confirmation and a sensitive-content warning. Follow each service’s access requirements.
The independent tools linked here were built by Tommy Carstensen and Rye Howard-Stone and the Epstein Data project. CourtListener and RECAP are Free Law Project services. Credit the tool that helped locate a record and cite the record itself for the underlying evidence.
Check a recorded passage
Depositions
Credit: Rye Howard-Stone · Epstein Data project
Locate transcript passages and replay available video, then compare official pages and lines.
Public pages
Open toolAutomated speaker labels are approximate; timestamps can drift.
How to use & cautions
Epstein Data’s Depositions tool
Open Depositions and select the session or transcript entry. Search for a short phrase, then read surrounding turns. Where video is available, replay the exchange. The site warns that automated speaker identification is approximate and timestamps can drift. For PDF entries, follow the official House source link and cite its page and lines.
A source check you can repeat
The House Oversight transcript of the April 30, 2026 Ted Waitt interview provides a straightforward example. Its title page identifies the interview and date; the body uses printed page and line numbers. Compare those with your PDF viewer’s page counter before creating a citation. This is a document-navigation example, not an inference about any participant.
- Locate the passage using the search tool or PDF search.
- Read the entire question and answer, plus enough of the neighboring exchange to resolve pronouns and qualifications.
- Check whether the speaker is recalling an event, repeating another person’s account, rejecting a premise or saying they do not remember.
- Check any exhibit the answer depends on. A lawyer’s question can contain a proposition the witness never accepts.
- Record the exact source and locator. Keep your interpretation separate from the quotation.
- Tool
- Epstein Data search and Depositions
- What it helps you find
- Searchable document text, official transcript links and machine transcripts alongside video.
- Best time to use it
- You need another search route or want to locate a passage in recorded proceedings.
Tommy’s FAQ states that the archive is free. The cited Epstein Data pages are publicly readable without an account prompt. DOJ and FBI public release pages do not charge for their posted documents; the DOJ Library has an age confirmation and a sensitive-content warning. Follow each service’s access requirements.
The independent tools linked here were built by Tommy Carstensen and Rye Howard-Stone and the Epstein Data project. CourtListener and RECAP are Free Law Project services. Credit the tool that helped locate a record and cite the record itself for the underlying evidence.
Find an FBI report
FBI Vault: Jeffrey Epstein
Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Open the cited Vault part and verify an interview report’s form, dates, page image and source.
Public release files
Open toolAn FD-302 is not necessarily a verbatim interview transcript.
How to use & cautions
Identify the record before interpreting it
An FD-302 is an FBI record of investigative activity. Interviews are a common use, but the form label alone does not tell you that a witness was interviewed or that the text is a verbatim transcript. The Justice Department Inspector General’s explanation of FD-302s and inserts describes this broader function.
| Record | What to check | How to describe it carefully |
|---|---|---|
| FD-302 or continuation page | Form heading, investigative activity, interview date, preparation date, case number and continuation sequence. | Attribute narrative to the report. Describe a passage as the speaker’s verbatim words only when the record clearly identifies a direct quotation. |
| Deposition transcript | Case caption, witness, date, oath, questioning, objections, exhibits and any correction pages. | Attribute the answer to its speaker. Preserve the question needed to understand it. |
| Congressional interview or hearing | Committee, session date, stated ground rules, speaker labels and official transcript status. | Use the proceeding’s own label. Do not assume every transcribed interview was sworn. |
| Audio or video transcript | Who created the transcript, whether labels are automated, timing and the underlying recording. | Identify a machine transcription as such, including after checking a passage against the recording or official transcript. State what was checked. |
| Index or production list | Its title, numbering scheme, source production and links to the underlying items. | Use it to locate a record. An index description cannot substitute for that record’s contents. |
Find and verify an FBI interview report
- Write down the locator you already have. Copy the complete case number, serial, EFTA identifier or quoted phrase. Keep punctuation and leading zeros. A partial number without its case or production can point to unrelated material.
- Search broadly, then narrow. Try FD-302 and FD 302 as separate searches. Add a visible date or a neutral subject term from the citation. If a phrase returns nothing, shorten it and try an alternate spacing. OCR can miss punctuation or join words.
- Open the document, not just the snippet. Find the form header and read the beginning and ending of the record. A long PDF may contain several reports, attachments or repeated copies. A continuation sheet belongs with its preceding pages.
- Inspect the page image. Confirm the visible date, page number and wording. If the image is unclear, mark the field uncertain rather than accepting a search engine’s transcription.
- Follow the official source. Use the document’s linked DOJ PDF or the relevant Vault part. Save the source URL, access date, PDF page and printed stamp together.
- Record only what the document supports. Separate an agent’s description, a speaker’s account and an independently established fact. Note an attachment that is mentioned but unavailable without guessing what it contains.
The DOJ Library warns that handwriting and other formats can make electronic searches unreliable. An unsuccessful search should therefore be recorded as a search outcome, with the terms and collection used.
- Tool
- FBI Vault
- What it helps you find
- The FBI’s multipart public Jeffrey Epstein release.
- Best time to use it
- A citation names a Vault part, FBI page or older FOIA production.
Tommy’s FAQ states that the archive is free. The cited Epstein Data pages are publicly readable without an account prompt. DOJ and FBI public release pages do not charge for their posted documents; the DOJ Library has an age confirmation and a sensitive-content warning. Follow each service’s access requirements.
Search a phrase
Document Search
Credit: Tommy Carstensen
Search phrases, form names and document identifiers across indexed archive collections.
Free archive
Open toolOpen the document; OCR and snippets can mislead.
How to use & cautions
These are discovery examples, not promises about the number or substance of results. Begin without restrictive filters and add them only after checking an initial result.
Tommy’s search instructions document Boolean operators and quoted phrases. Epstein Data’s search help documents quoted phrases, OR and a leading minus to exclude a word; spaces combine terms and its ordinary term matching uses prefixes. Do not assume either syntax works identically in a different archive.
- Tool
- Tommy’s document search
- What it helps you find
- Text and document identifiers across the archive’s indexed collections.
- Best time to use it
- You have a phrase, form name or citation rather than a transcript title.
- Where
- Tommy’s search
- Example
- “FD-302” OR “FD 302”
- What to do next
- Check whether each hit is an actual report or merely a reference to one.
Tommy’s FAQ states that the archive is free. The cited Epstein Data pages are publicly readable without an account prompt. DOJ and FBI public release pages do not charge for their posted documents; the DOJ Library has an age confirmation and a sensitive-content warning. Follow each service’s access requirements.
The independent tools linked here were built by Tommy Carstensen and Rye Howard-Stone and the Epstein Data project. CourtListener and RECAP are Free Law Project services. Credit the tool that helped locate a record and cite the record itself for the underlying evidence.
Recover docket context
CourtListener and RECAP
Credit: Free Law Project
Find the case, filing and attachment, then check nearby docket entries for corrections or restrictions.
Free contributed copies
Open toolContributed holdings may omit a needed attachment.
How to use & cautions
Use court records to recover context
A transcript circulating by itself may originally have been an exhibit to a motion. Begin with the case caption and docket number, then locate the filing and attachment. The DOJ provides a dedicated United States v. Maxwell court-record collection; its release listing is useful for finding copies, while the court docket supplies the procedural sequence.
- Use CourtListener’s court-record search to find the case. Confirm the court, case number and parties before opening a document.
- Read the docket entry that identifies the transcript or exhibit. Match the filing number and attachment number to the PDF.
- Check nearby entries for orders affecting the record, including sealing, replacement filings or corrections.
- If the needed copy is unavailable, use PACER’s court lookup to reach the correct federal court. Review charges before opening paid records.
RECAP makes contributed copies available for free. Its holdings do not guarantee that a particular attachment is available. A docket entry can exist even when its document cannot be opened publicly.
- Tool
- CourtListener and RECAP, then PACER
- What it helps you find
- Federal court dockets and filed documents.
- Best time to use it
- You need the filing, exhibit number, docket context or a transcript’s procedural history.
- Where
- Court records
- Example
- United States v. Maxwell, 1:20-cr-00330, Southern District of New York
- What to do next
- Match the docket first, then the particular transcript or attachment.
The independent tools linked here were built by Tommy Carstensen and Rye Howard-Stone and the Epstein Data project. CourtListener and RECAP are Free Law Project services. Credit the tool that helped locate a record and cite the record itself for the underlying evidence.
Check an index reference
3500 Material Map
Credit: Rye Howard-Stone · Epstein Data project
Follow discovery-label references and compare proposed matches with the cited source pages.
Public pages
Open toolAn unmatched status describes only the tool’s stated coverage.
How to use & cautions
Keep the identifiers straight
A document can carry several identifiers at once: a court filing number, a discovery-production label, an FBI case and serial number, and an EFTA stamp. Record them in separate fields rather than collapsing them into one number.
Epstein Data’s 3500 Material Map is useful for finding index references. Its explanation distinguishes prosecution discovery labels such as 3501 references from FBI serials. Treat a proposed match as a lead until you compare the cited pages. Treat a tool’s unmatched or missing status as a result within that tool’s stated coverage, not a finding about what every agency holds or has released.
A reproducible citation includes: record title or type; issuing body; event or report date; case and filing number where applicable; EFTA or other printed stamp; printed page and line numbers or recording timestamp; source URL; and date accessed.
If only part of the document was checked, describe that part. Do not label the entire record verified.
Tommy’s FAQ states that the archive is free. The cited Epstein Data pages are publicly readable without an account prompt. DOJ and FBI public release pages do not charge for their posted documents; the DOJ Library has an age confirmation and a sensitive-content warning. Follow each service’s access requirements.
The independent tools linked here were built by Tommy Carstensen and Rye Howard-Stone and the Epstein Data project. CourtListener and RECAP are Free Law Project services. Credit the tool that helped locate a record and cite the record itself for the underlying evidence.
More ways to investigate
Try another search index
Epstein Data search
Credit: Rye Howard-Stone · Epstein Data project
Search document text using distinctive phrases, then inspect the proceeding heading and date.
Public search
Open toolSearch syntax differs between archives.
How to use & cautions
These are discovery examples, not promises about the number or substance of results. Begin without restrictive filters and add them only after checking an initial result.
Tommy’s search instructions document Boolean operators and quoted phrases. Epstein Data’s search help documents quoted phrases, OR and a leading minus to exclude a word; spaces combine terms and its ordinary term matching uses prefixes. Do not assume either syntax works identically in a different archive.
- Tool
- Epstein Data search and Depositions
- What it helps you find
- Searchable document text, official transcript links and machine transcripts alongside video.
- Best time to use it
- You need another search route or want to locate a passage in recorded proceedings.
- Where
- Epstein Data
- Example
- “deposition” “court reporter”
- What to do next
- Use the document heading to identify the proceeding and date.
Tommy’s FAQ states that the archive is free. The cited Epstein Data pages are publicly readable without an account prompt. DOJ and FBI public release pages do not charge for their posted documents; the DOJ Library has an age confirmation and a sensitive-content warning. Follow each service’s access requirements.
The independent tools linked here were built by Tommy Carstensen and Rye Howard-Stone and the Epstein Data project. CourtListener and RECAP are Free Law Project services. Credit the tool that helped locate a record and cite the record itself for the underlying evidence.
Verify a release PDF
DOJ Disclosures
Credit: U.S. Department of Justice
Locate the official release PDF and confirm its identifiers and release context.
Public files · age confirmation
Open toolHandwriting and other formats can make search unreliable.
How to use & cautions
The DOJ Library warns that handwriting and other formats can make electronic searches unreliable. An unsuccessful search should therefore be recorded as a search outcome, with the terms and collection used.
- Tool
- DOJ Disclosures
- What it helps you find
- Official release files, including court records, FOIA collections and prior disclosures.
- Best time to use it
- You need to verify the actual PDF and its release context.
- Where
- DOJ Library
- Example
- A complete EFTA identifier copied from a visible source citation
- What to do next
- Confirm that the identifier addresses a file or a page within a larger PDF.
Tommy’s FAQ states that the archive is free. The cited Epstein Data pages are publicly readable without an account prompt. DOJ and FBI public release pages do not charge for their posted documents; the DOJ Library has an age confirmation and a sensitive-content warning. Follow each service’s access requirements.
Practice page-and-line citation
House Oversight: Ted Waitt interview transcript
Credit: House Oversight Committee
Use the April 30, 2026 interview transcript to compare printed page and line numbers with the PDF counter.
Public official transcript
Open toolPreserve the full question and answer.
How to use & cautions
A source check you can repeat
The House Oversight transcript of the April 30, 2026 Ted Waitt interview provides a straightforward example. Its title page identifies the interview and date; the body uses printed page and line numbers. Compare those with your PDF viewer’s page counter before creating a citation. This is a document-navigation example, not an inference about any participant.
- Locate the passage using the search tool or PDF search.
- Read the entire question and answer, plus enough of the neighboring exchange to resolve pronouns and qualifications.
- Check whether the speaker is recalling an event, repeating another person’s account, rejecting a premise or saying they do not remember.
- Check any exhibit the answer depends on. A lawyer’s question can contain a proposition the witness never accepts.
- Record the exact source and locator. Keep your interpretation separate from the quotation.
Find a federal court copy
PACER
Credit: U.S. federal courts
Use the court lookup to reach the correct federal court when a needed copy is unavailable.
Registration · possible fees
Open toolRegistration and charges apply; check current pricing.
How to use & cautions
Use court records to recover context
A transcript circulating by itself may originally have been an exhibit to a motion. Begin with the case caption and docket number, then locate the filing and attachment. The DOJ provides a dedicated United States v. Maxwell court-record collection; its release listing is useful for finding copies, while the court docket supplies the procedural sequence.
- Use CourtListener’s court-record search to find the case. Confirm the court, case number and parties before opening a document.
- Read the docket entry that identifies the transcript or exhibit. Match the filing number and attachment number to the PDF.
- Check nearby entries for orders affecting the record, including sealing, replacement filings or corrections.
- If the needed copy is unavailable, use PACER’s court lookup to reach the correct federal court. Review charges before opening paid records.
RECAP makes contributed copies available for free. Its holdings do not guarantee that a particular attachment is available. A docket entry can exist even when its document cannot be opened publicly.
PACER requires registration. As of October 11, 2026, its published rate is $0.10 per page, with quarterly fees waived at $30 or less. Transcripts are outside the usual $3 document cap. An announced change effective January 1, 2027 raises the page rate to $0.12 and the quarterly waiver threshold to $40. Check the current schedule before spending.
- Tool
- CourtListener and RECAP, then PACER
- What it helps you find
- Federal court dockets and filed documents.
- Best time to use it
- You need the filing, exhibit number, docket context or a transcript’s procedural history.
Before you save a finding
Open the original record
Check dates & context
Record what it supports
Open the verification checklist
Key takeaways
- Start with the record’s date, case number, document stamp or distinctive wording.
- Use Tommy Carstensen’s archive and Epstein Data for discovery, then check the linked official document or recording.
- Identify what kind of record you have before describing it as testimony.
- Keep the interview date, report date, court filing date and public release date separate.
- Respect redactions and pseudonyms. A name appearing in a record does not establish misconduct.
Identify the record before interpreting it
An FD-302 is an FBI record of investigative activity. Interviews are a common use, but the form label alone does not tell you that a witness was interviewed or that the text is a verbatim transcript. The Justice Department Inspector General’s explanation of FD-302s and inserts describes this broader function.
| Record | What to check | How to describe it carefully |
|---|---|---|
| FD-302 or continuation page | Form heading, investigative activity, interview date, preparation date, case number and continuation sequence. | Attribute narrative to the report. Describe a passage as the speaker’s verbatim words only when the record clearly identifies a direct quotation. |
| Deposition transcript | Case caption, witness, date, oath, questioning, objections, exhibits and any correction pages. | Attribute the answer to its speaker. Preserve the question needed to understand it. |
| Congressional interview or hearing | Committee, session date, stated ground rules, speaker labels and official transcript status. | Use the proceeding’s own label. Do not assume every transcribed interview was sworn. |
| Audio or video transcript | Who created the transcript, whether labels are automated, timing and the underlying recording. | Identify a machine transcription as such, including after checking a passage against the recording or official transcript. State what was checked. |
| Index or production list | Its title, numbering scheme, source production and links to the underlying items. | Use it to locate a record. An index description cannot substitute for that record’s contents. |
Find and verify an FBI interview report
- Write down the locator you already have. Copy the complete case number, serial, EFTA identifier or quoted phrase. Keep punctuation and leading zeros. A partial number without its case or production can point to unrelated material.
- Search broadly, then narrow. Try FD-302 and FD 302 as separate searches. Add a visible date or a neutral subject term from the citation. If a phrase returns nothing, shorten it and try an alternate spacing. OCR can miss punctuation or join words.
- Open the document, not just the snippet. Find the form header and read the beginning and ending of the record. A long PDF may contain several reports, attachments or repeated copies. A continuation sheet belongs with its preceding pages.
- Inspect the page image. Confirm the visible date, page number and wording. If the image is unclear, mark the field uncertain rather than accepting a search engine’s transcription.
- Follow the official source. Use the document’s linked DOJ PDF or the relevant Vault part. Save the source URL, access date, PDF page and printed stamp together.
- Record only what the document supports. Separate an agent’s description, a speaker’s account and an independently established fact. Note an attachment that is mentioned but unavailable without guessing what it contains.
The DOJ Library warns that handwriting and other formats can make electronic searches unreliable. An unsuccessful search should therefore be recorded as a search outcome, with the terms and collection used.
A source check you can repeat
The House Oversight transcript of the April 30, 2026 Ted Waitt interview provides a straightforward example. Its title page identifies the interview and date; the body uses printed page and line numbers. Compare those with your PDF viewer’s page counter before creating a citation. This is a document-navigation example, not an inference about any participant.
- Locate the passage using the search tool or PDF search.
- Read the entire question and answer, plus enough of the neighboring exchange to resolve pronouns and qualifications.
- Check whether the speaker is recalling an event, repeating another person’s account, rejecting a premise or saying they do not remember.
- Check any exhibit the answer depends on. A lawyer’s question can contain a proposition the witness never accepts.
- Record the exact source and locator. Keep your interpretation separate from the quotation.
Queries worth trying
These are discovery examples, not promises about the number or substance of results. Begin without restrictive filters and add them only after checking an initial result.
| Where | Example | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Tommy’s search | “FD-302” OR “FD 302” | Check whether each hit is an actual report or merely a reference to one. |
| Epstein Data | “deposition” “court reporter” | Use the document heading to identify the proceeding and date. |
| DOJ Library | A complete EFTA identifier copied from a visible source citation | Confirm that the identifier addresses a file or a page within a larger PDF. |
| Court records | United States v. Maxwell, 1:20-cr-00330, Southern District of New York | Match the docket first, then the particular transcript or attachment. |
Tommy’s search instructions document Boolean operators and quoted phrases. Epstein Data’s search help documents quoted phrases, OR and a leading minus to exclude a word; spaces combine terms and its ordinary term matching uses prefixes. Do not assume either syntax works identically in a different archive.
Keep the identifiers straight
A document can carry several identifiers at once: a court filing number, a discovery-production label, an FBI case and serial number, and an EFTA stamp. Record them in separate fields rather than collapsing them into one number.
Epstein Data’s 3500 Material Map is useful for finding index references. Its explanation distinguishes prosecution discovery labels such as 3501 references from FBI serials. Treat a proposed match as a lead until you compare the cited pages. Treat a tool’s unmatched or missing status as a result within that tool’s stated coverage, not a finding about what every agency holds or has released.
A reproducible citation includes: record title or type; issuing body; event or report date; case and filing number where applicable; EFTA or other printed stamp; printed page and line numbers or recording timestamp; source URL; and date accessed.
If only part of the document was checked, describe that part. Do not label the entire record verified.
Access, limits and responsible use
Tommy’s FAQ states that the archive is free. The cited Epstein Data pages are publicly readable without an account prompt. DOJ and FBI public release pages do not charge for their posted documents; the DOJ Library has an age confirmation and a sensitive-content warning. Follow each service’s access requirements.
PACER requires registration. As of October 11, 2026, its published rate is $0.10 per page, with quarterly fees waived at $30 or less. Transcripts are outside the usual $3 document cap. An announced change effective January 1, 2027 raises the page rate to $0.12 and the quarterly waiver threshold to $40. Check the current schedule before spending.
Keep pseudonyms intact. Do not combine interviews, dates, addresses or other details to identify a protected survivor. Avoid publishing private contact information or unnecessary sexual detail. Discovery tools, machine transcripts and AI summaries help locate material; the underlying source determines what can responsibly be said.
Related EpsteinWiki guides and research credit
- Releases, Redactions & FOIA for release versions, withholding references and public-record requests.
- Tommy Carstensen’s Epstein Files Archive for the wider tool collection.
- Epstein Data for the project’s search and data resources.
- Audio Video Desk for recordings and related coverage.
- Contributor Desk for contributing sourced research.
The independent tools linked here were built by Tommy Carstensen and Rye Howard-Stone and the Epstein Data project. CourtListener and RECAP are Free Law Project services. Credit the tool that helped locate a record and cite the record itself for the underlying evidence.