Democrats on the House oversight committee have released a new batch of photos from the estate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the deadline for the justice department to release its files related to Epstein looms.
The images, released on Thursday, are undated and lack captions or context. Among them are photographs of what appear to be lines from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita written on different parts of a woman’s body.
The release maintains pressure on Donald Trump, whose justice department has less than 48 hours to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a congressional bill signed into law last month, requiring the Department of Justice to release its files, with some exceptions, related to Epstein.
Over the summer, the Trump administration drew backlash when the justice department said it would not release any additional Epstein files - despite earlier promises from Trump and his allies on the campaign trail.
Trump had, for months, opposed the congressional bill requiring the release of the justice department’s Epstein files, but reversed course when it became evident that it had enough bipartisan support to pass. He signed the bill into law on 19 November.
One image in the release on Thursday shows text written on a woman’s chest, that reads: “Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth.”
The second image shows a passage written on a woman’s foot: “She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock.”
Additional images show the line “She was Lola in slacks” written on a woman’s body, and the passage “She was Dolly at school” on a woman’s neck. The final image shows the line “She was Dolores on the dotted line” written on a woman’s spine.
The release also includes photographs of Bill Gates posing with a woman whose face has been redacted, and of the prominent linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky sitting on a plane with Epstein. It has been previously reported that Gates and Chomsky knew Epstein. Gates has previously said that he made a “huge mistake” in meeting with Epstein.
Other images show Woody Allen, the director; Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser; and David Brooks, the author and New York Times opinion columnist, among others. In November of this year, Brooks wrote a column headlined “The Epstein Story? Count Me Out”.
Again, no context for these photographs has been provided, and the appearance of these people in the photos is not evidence of wrongdoing.
In a statement to the Guardian, a spokesperson for the New York Times said that “as a journalist, David Brooks regularly attends events to speak with noted and important business leaders to inform his columns, which is exactly what happened at this 2011 event. Mr Brooks had no contact with him before or after this single attendance at a widely-attended dinner.”
The batch also includes photos of a number of foreign passports, with the information redacted, as well as Epstein’s US passport.
There is also a screenshot of a text message conversation from a unknown sender referring to an 18-year-old from Russia. The sender says “I have a friend scout she sent me some girls today” then sends “But she asks 1000$ per girl” and following messages that read “I will send u girls now”, and “Maybe someone will be good for J?”.
In a statement after the release, Robert Garcia, a US representative and ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform, said: “Oversight Democrats will continue to release photographs and documents from the Epstein estate to provide transparency for the American people.”
“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,” he said.
“We must end this White House cover-up, and the DoJ must release the Epstein files now.”
The new photos came after Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, asked a federal court to “vacate, set aside, or correct her conviction and sentence”.
The habeas petition, filed on Wednesday by Maxwell, claims “substantial new evidence” had emerged from civil actions, government disclosures, investigative reports and other documents that she says support her claim that she did not receive a fair trial.
“This newly available evidence – derived from litigation against the Federal Bureau of Investigation, various financial institutions, and the Estate of Jeffrey Epstein, as well as from sworn depositions, released records, and other verified sources – shows that exculpatory information was withheld, false testimony presented, and material facts misrepresented to the jury and the court,” Maxwell wrote in the petition, which she filed “pro se”, meaning without an attorney.
The filing marks Maxwell’s latest bid for freedom, following several unsuccessful appeal attempts since she was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Epstein died in federal custody in 2019, while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that the justice department could release grand jury materials from Maxwell’s case, citing the new law passed by Congress.
An attorney for Maxwell had argued, according to the New York Times, that disclosing those materials publicly would “create undue prejudice so severe that it would foreclose the possibility of a fair retrial” if her request for a new trial were granted.
