Lawmakers Unveil Latest Set of Jeffrey Epstein Images as Department of Justice Time Limit Nears
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The House Oversight Committee has published a set of around 70 images from the estate of deceased found guilty sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
This represents the third disclosure from a tranche of in excess of 95,000 photographs the committee has acquired from Epstein's holdings. It includes pictures of quotes from the book Lolita scrawled across a woman's body, and redacted photos of female international passports.
This action comes mere hours before the December 19th deadline for the Justice Department to disclose all records connected to its inquiry into Epstein.
"These latest photos pose further queries about exactly what the Department of Justice has in its custody," said the senior Democrat of the committee, Robert Garcia.
Contents in the Images Disclosed
Several of the photographs released on recently feature Epstein speaking with academic and activist Noam Chomsky on a personal aircraft; Bill Gates positioned next to a female whose identity is obscured; Steve Bannon positioned at a desk facing Epstein, and ex- Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a evening meal.
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These are the most recent affluent, powerful individuals to be photographed in Epstein property images released by the House Oversight Committee - earlier released photos also depict US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as film director Woody Allen, previous US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, counsel Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and others.
Showing up in the photos is does not constitute indication of any wrongdoing, and several of the pictured individuals have asserted they were never involved in Epstein's criminal activity.
In a statement accompanying the photograph disclosure, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein estate did not supply background information or dates for the photographs.
"Photos were picked to provide the American people with transparency into a illustrative selection of the images received from the property, and to offer insights into Epstein's associates and his exceptionally disturbing behavior," the announcement reads.
Oversight Panel
The release also features multiple images of quotes from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita inscribed in ink across several locations of a woman's body, including her chest, feet, pelvis, and back. Lolita tells the account of a minor who was manipulated by a middle-aged literature professor.
A particular excerpt from the book scrawled across a female's torso states, "Lolita: the point of the tongue traveling of three steps down the palate to alight, at three, on the teeth".
The release also contains a collection of photographs of female passports and ID papers from states around the world, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.
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A large portion of the details on the documents, like names and DOBs, is censored but the committee stated in a statement that the passports belong to "individuals whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were interacting with".
A further photo shows Epstein positioned at a desk closely in the company of three women whose features have been obscured - one individual has her hand on Epstein's upper body under his clothing, and another is bending to view a adjacent laptop. Epstein appears to be helping the final person attach a wristband.
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An additional photograph made public is a capture of text messages from an unidentified person who states they have been supplied "several females" and are demanding "$1000 per girl".
Image Publication Arrives Ahead of DOJ Cut-off
The body has thousands of photographs in its possession from the Epstein estate, which are "both explicit and ordinary," its announcement on this week explained.
The oversight panel first subpoenaed the holdings of Epstein, who passed away in a New York prison in 2019 while pending legal proceedings on accusations of sex trafficking, in August.
The photos and records the Epstein property gave to the committee are different than what is often called "the Epstein files". Those are records within the justice department's possession related to its separate inquiry into Epstein.
Pursuant to the Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law in November, the DOJ has a deadline of 19 December to disclose its records. The extent of what is contained in the DOJ's records is unknown, and it's probable that much of the content will be extensively redacted, akin to House Oversight Committee materials