(WASHINGTON) — One day before the deadline for the Justice Department to release its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Thursday publicly disclosed another batch of photographs provided by the late financier’s estate in response to Congressional subpoenas.
The cache of about 70 photos includes include heavily redacted photos of women’s passports, images of famous men who associated with Epstein, and “concerning text messages about recruiting women for Jeffrey Epstein,” according to a statement from Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the committee.
“Oversight Democrats will continue to release photographs and documents from the Epstein estate to provide transparency for the American people,” Garcia said in the statement. “As we approach the deadline for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these new images raise more questions about what exactly the Department of Justice has in its possession. We must end this White House cover-up, and the DOJ must release the Epstein files now.”
The photos released Thursday are from a larger batch of more than 95,000 images turned over last week by the Epstein estate. The photos were provided to Congress without context, timing, or locations. The images are therefore “presented as received,” the Democrats said.
One image shows billionaire Bill Gates standing with a woman — whose face is concealed — in what appears to be a hotel lobby. Another shows the philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky aboard an airplane chatting with Epstein.
The appearance of the men in the photos is not evidence of wrongdoing.
Another photo shows a woman’s lower leg and foot on what looks like a bed, with a paperback copy of Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” in the background. On the woman’s foot is a handwritten quote from the controversial 1955 novel about a professor’s obsession with a young girl.
“She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock,” the quote reads.
Other images include a heavily redacted Ukrainian passport of a woman, with all the identifying information covered with black boxes to protect her identify. After Epstein’s 2006 arrest and jail sentence in Florida for solicitation of a minor, he was alleged to have turned his focus to recruiting young women from Eastern European countries.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019.
A screenshot released Thursday of a text message chat — whose participants are not revealed — seems to involve a discussion about recruiting an 18-year-old woman to meet Epstein.
“I will send u girls now,” the message says. “Maybe someone will be good for J?”
A redacted description lists the woman’s name, age, height, weight and physical measurements. The message indicates the woman would be traveling from Russia.
Last week, House Democrats made public another selection of photos from the Epstein estate.
The House Oversight Committee is conducting a broad inquiry into the federal government’s handling of investigations into Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The committee’s efforts are separate from — though at times overlapping — the new law that requires the DOJ to make public its files on Epstein by Friday.
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