US House committee releases first batch of Epstein files amid Trump admin scrutiny

The US Congress’ House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein released a large batch of files on Tuesday (Sept 2) related to the late convicted sex offender, amid growing pressure on the Trump administration to make more information public.

The documents stem from a subpoena issued last month by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer to the Justice Department. On Tuesday, the committee released 33,295 pages of records, calling it the first batch of documents received from the DOJ.

Rep Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said most of the pages released on Tuesday were already public.

“To distract from their continued White House cover-up, the DOJ released the interview between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell is desperately seeking a pardon from the Trump Administration and cannot be trusted,” Garcia said.

The full content of the records was not immediately clear, but many files had already been released through court filings and other public records.

The committee’s investigation into Epstein comes weeks after President Donald Trump and his administration faced criticism from both supporters and opponents for refusing to release more files related to Epstein, despite Trump campaigning on a promise of greater transparency.

Many of the documents released on Tuesday are public filings from the criminal cases involving Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. They include material already available through federal courts and reported on previously.

Examples of the files include video and audio of Justice Department official Todd Blanche’s interview with Maxwell, video from Epstein’s West Palm Beach home following a search warrant by Palm Beach police, video from the jail where Epstein died by suicide in 2019, and audio recorded by Palm Beach police during their initial investigation of Epstein.

Rep. Garcia reiterated that much of the released material was already public.

“To distract from their continued White House cover-up, the DOJ released the interview between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell is desperately seeking a pardon from the Trump Administration and cannot be trusted,” he said.

The House committee said in a statement that it expects to receive more records from the Justice Department, which are being redacted to protect “victim identities” and remove “any child sexual abuse material.”

Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-level connections, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for alleged sex trafficking of underage girls recruited to provide him with sexual massages.

President Donald Trump was once a friend of Epstein, and according to The Wall Street Journal, the president’s name was among hundreds found during a Justice Department review of the Epstein files, though there has not been evidence of wrongdoing.

Trump’s supporters have been obsessed with the Epstein case for years and held as an article of faith that “Deep State” elites were protecting Epstein associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood—but not Trump.