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 their 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, but Garcia told reporters on Friday that Democrats need the cooperation of Republicans to get more subpoenas — as they’ve already requested.
For their part, Republicans on the Oversight 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.”
In addition to Trump, Clinton, Bannon and Gates, there are photos of former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, director Woody Allen, famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz, and billionaire Richard Branson. MS NOW is reaching out to these people and they have all previously denied wrongdoing. The exact context of what these photos depict and when the photos were taken isn’t clear. Some of the images also feature graphic depictions of sex toys, as well as a novelty condom box with Trump’s picture on the packaging that says, “I’m huuuuge.” What is notable is that Epstein held onto these photos, adding new insight into his associations with some of the richest and most powerful men on earth. The photo release comes 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 next week. Congress approved that legislation ahead of Thanksgiving with near unanimous support — a dramatic turnaround that capped off a months-long 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 supported the release of the files.
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
