Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a tranche of new images from the Jeffrey Epstein estate Friday that included photographs of former President Bill Clinton, media impresario Steve Bannon, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and, most notably, President Donald Trump.
One photo shows Trump posing with six women, five of them wearing leis. (The committee edited the photos to obscure the identities of the women.)
“It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” said the Oversight Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. “These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world.”
“We will not rest until the American people get the truth,” Garcia added. “The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”
Friday’s release was just a small portion of the more than 95,000 photos that the Epstein estate turned over to lawmakers in recent days. The committee received the photos as part of its subpoena to the Epstein estate, which is continuing to produce records that comply with the request on a rolling basis.
Talking to reporters on the House steps Friday, Garcia said there are “many other” photos the committee hasn’t released yet. “And some of the other photos that we did not put out today are incredibly disturbing,” he said.
The images stem from photos found in Epstein’s emails and on his computers, though any accompanying emails were not part of this current production — in large part because the subpoena only asked for “all video … or still photography.”
It’s unclear whether the committee will amend or issue a new subpoena to get more information. Garcia told reporters Friday that Democrats have requested additional subpoenas but need the cooperation of Republicans.
Republicans on the committee released a statement Friday claiming that, “once again, Oversight Democrats are chasing headlines by releasing a handful of selectively censored and cherry-picked photos from the Epstein Estate.”
“Democrats’ hoax against President Trump has been completely debunked. Nothing in the documents we’ve received shows any wrongdoing,” Republicans on the committee said in a statement on X. “Ranking Member Robert Garcia and Oversight Democrats should be ashamed of this disgusting behavior of putting politics above justice for the survivors.”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson echoed those statements and accused Democrats of trying to create “a false narrative” around Trump and Epstein.
“The Democrat hoax against President Trump has been repeatedly debunked and the Trump Administration has done more for Epstein’s victims than Democrats ever have by repeatedly calling for transparency, releasing thousands of pages of documents and calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends,” Jackson said.
In addition to Trump, Clinton, Bannon and Gates, there are photos of former Harvard president and Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, director Woody Allen, famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz and billionaire Richard Branson. MS NOW is seeking comment Friday from all of them, and they have all previously denied wrongdoing.
The exact context of what these photos depict and when the photos were taken isn’t clear. Many appear to be digitized copies of pictures taken with a film camera. Most appear to be taken by a third party, though one shows Epstein snapping a selfie with Bannon in front of a mirror. Some are posed photos, others are candid.
Some of the images feature sex toys, as well as a novelty condom box with Trump’s picture on the packaging that says, “I’m huuuuge.” Those frames do not show anyone’s faces. “Fewer than 1,000” of the 95,000 photos contain any nudity, according to a source familiar with the committee’s investigation, who spoke to MS NOW on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss those details publicly. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, maintained connections to the rich and powerful through his role as a financier. He was arrested in July 2019 on charges of child sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking. He died by suicide a month later while awaiting trial on those charges in jail in New York. Friday’s drop is the second batch of Epstein images that House Democrats have released. The first series last week included several photos and brief video clips from the private island Epstein owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he reportedly trafficked girls. Those visuals, taken by authorities in the Virgin Islands after Epstein’s death, featured no people. The photo releases come as the committee awaits the Department of Justice’s compliance with the newly passed Epstein Files Transparency Act, which compels the release of all documents related to Epstein by the end of next week. Congress approved that legislation ahead of Thanksgiving with near unanimous support — a dramatic turnaround that capped off a monthslong fight on Capitol Hill. Trump and GOP leadership had objected to the release of the documents, until their hand was forced when a group of Republican lawmakers joined with Democrats to sign a discharge petition, demonstrating that Democrats had the votes. At that point, nearly every Republican decided to support the release of the files. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who had urged Republicans to reject the bill, told reporters Friday that he had not seen the latest release of images. “I didn’t know anything about it,” Johnson said. “I’ve been busy all morning.” Lisa Rubin contributed to this report.
Ali Vitali is MS NOW's senior congressional correspondent and the host of "Way Too Early." She is the author of "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet."
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. Recommended
