Democrats release more Epstein photos with a promise of more to come

WASHINGTON — The estate of Jeffrey Epstein has turned over approximately 95,000 photographs to the House Oversight Committee. So far, the public has only seen a tiny fraction of this trove of files.

On Thursday, Democrats on that committee released 68 photos from the property, including photos of Epstein, the convicted sex offender, with high-profile figures. That post, along with another released last week by Oversight Democrats, includes dozens of photos of Epstein posing with President Donald Trump, his top ally Steve Bannon, former President Bill Clinton, Clinton’s former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, director Woody Allen and others. All have denied any wrongdoing and none have been charged in connection with Epstein’s crimes.

The latest batch of photos was released just a day before a deadline Friday when the Justice Department will be required under a new law to release all of the government’s Epstein files, with a few exceptions.

Speaking on the Capitol steps, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said the committee systematically reviews all documents from Epstein’s estate and works with attorneys and survivors’ groups to ensure that the victims depicted in the photographs are not identified or harmed.

“There are about 95,000 photos. We’ve probably reviewed 75 percent of all the photos. We’re hoping that by next week all the photos will be reviewed and then we’ll release additional photos,” Garcia told reporters.

“The most disturbing photos are definitely the ones that are more sexual in nature,” he continued. “We’re discussing how best to deal with these issues and talking with attorneys and survivor groups because we want to be very careful about the trauma that survivors are experiencing. »

In a statement accompanying Thursday’s release, Garcia noted that “the Epstein estate has not provided context for any of the 95,000 images they transmitted and therefore the images are presented as they were received.”

Some recent posts include Epstein and celebrities, while others feature what appear to be photos of his properties and work visas that are heavily redacted.

Another member of the Oversight Committee, Rep. Dave Min, Democrat of California, agreed that victims and survivors are the top priority in the process: “We’ve had discussions with survivors to try to respect their privacy to avoid triggering them. Like, what steps can we take? That process of drafting, of reaching out to survivors, is also part of the delay.”

The release of the new batch Thursday generated a flurry of headlines about the Epstein files, maintaining pressure on the Justice Department on the eve of the critical deadline. Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 18, and Trump signed it the next day. He gave the Justice Department 30 days to produce all of its records from its investigation into Epstein, who was facing federal charges of sex trafficking of minors when he committed suicide in prison in 2019.

The law states that the files must be published online and in a publicly searchable database.

The White House accused Garcia and Democrats last week of releasing “cherry-picked photos with random redactions in an attempt to create a false narrative” to make Trump look bad. While photos and videos show that Trump dated Epstein decades ago, Trump said he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida after learning that Epstein was hiring female employees at the club’s spa.

There is no evidence that Trump engaged in any illegal activity with Epstein, and he was never charged with any Epstein-related crime.

At least one of the photos released by Democrats was a wireframe taken by Getty Images and had been made public well before its release.

Thursday’s installment included photographs of quotes from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita” written on women’s body parts, travel documents and Epstein socializing with other prominent men.

Eventually, Garcia said, all photos and documents from the estate will be released.

“We believe transparency is the best approach. That’s why we will continue to release photos, documents, emails, anything that we can disclose from certain financial records,” Garcia said. “I think that’s the goal of oversight. It’s transparency.”

But he added: “We will never release information about the women or survivors in any of these cases. »

Garcia said he was skeptical that the Justice Department would be able to fully comply with the Epstein Act by Friday’s deadline. Trump and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill initially opposed releasing the files, until a bipartisan effort by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., succeeded in forcing a vote on the issue.

“I want to give them the benefit of the doubt: Tomorrow we will have all the files,” Garcia said. “But if we look at past behavior, I’m not sure that’s going to happen. We might get a partial release. We might get very redacted information that doesn’t tell us much.”

Khanna, a co-author of the law, told NBC News this week that he also gave the Justice Department the benefit of the doubt, predicting that all but perhaps 5 percent of the documents would be made public by the end of the day Friday. The Justice Department has not said what its plans are for the deadline.

If the Justice Department drags its feet, Garcia and Khanna warned, Democrats could sue the Trump administration. Across the country, federal judges have cited the new Epstein law in granting Justice Department requests to unseal grand jury files related to earlier investigations into Epstein in 2019 and the mid-2000s.

“They have to make everything public,” Garcia said of the Justice Department. “We will use every tool at our disposal, including whether we need to go to court and whether we need to take legal action to obtain disclosure of the records. »