Congressional Democrats have made public dozens of previously unseen photographs from the estate of the late Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose secretive network has long drawn global scrutiny. The images, released on Thursday, feature several prominent public figures and arrive just a day before the US Justice Department is legally required to disclose unclassified files linked to its Epstein investigation.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the move was aimed at shedding more light on Epstein’s activities and the circle of individuals connected to him, as pressure builds for greater transparency.
High-profile names surface in newly released images
Among the photographs are images showing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, political philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky, and former Trump aide Steve Bannon. According to Reuters, representatives for Gates, Chomsky and Bannon did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the release.
The 68 photographs unveiled on Thursday form part of a much larger collection, around 95,000 images—that Epstein’s estate handed over to the House Oversight Committee.
This is not the first public release from the trove. Just last week, Democrats shared 19 photographs, some of which featured now-President Donald Trump. He later brushed off those images, describing them as “no big deal.”
Disturbing details within the latest batch
Committee Democrats said the newly released images include deeply troubling material. Among them are close-up photographs of passages from Lolita, a novel centred on a man’s obsession with a 12-year-old girl, written in black ink across a woman’s body, including her chest, foot, neck and back.
Other photographs show redacted identification cards belonging to women from several countries, including Russia, Morocco, Italy, the Czech Republic, South Africa, Ukraine and Lithuania.
The release also contains screenshots of a late-night text exchange that appears to discuss the sending of girls for an individual identified only as “j”, with a price of $1,000 per girl referenced in the messages.
More Epstein material still under review
House Oversight Committee Democrats said the photographs released on Thursday were chosen to give the public a clearer picture of Epstein’s operations and the people linked to him. They described the images as a “representative sample” intended to offer insight into both his network and what they called his “extremely disturbing activities”.
However, the disclosures are far from over. Lawmakers said thousands of additional images remain under review, characterising them as a mix of “graphic and mundane” material. The examination, they added, is still ongoing.
