Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee released photos fromJeffrey Epstein's estate on Friday showing the many powerful figures in the late sex trafficker's orbit, including Donald Trump, former US President Bill Clinton, Steve Bannon, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and others.
Many of the men have been previously linked to Epstein, though the photos may shed new light on the extent of those relationships.
Taken collectively, the 19 images – which theDemocrats on the committee said came from Epstein's estate – reinforce that the financier was previously tied to a wide variety of powerful and high-profile people whose ties to him are now under significant scrutiny.
One released image shows Trump with six women with leis whose faces were redacted by committee members.
Another depicts what appears to be a bowl of novelty condoms with a caricature of Trump's face with the text,"I'm HUUUUGE!"
The condoms – shown in a bowl with a"Trump condom $4.50" sign – were produced by a novelty shop inNew York City named Fishs Eddy.
The item is described as a"political satire condom" in the National Museum of AmericanHistory's online collection.
Other released images depict Steve Bannon and Epstein taking a photograph in a mirror; Bill Clinton with Epstein, Maxwell and another couple; andtech billionaire Bill Gates with the former Prince Andrew.
Former Harvard President Larry Summers and lawyer Alan Dershowitz also appeared in pictures from the estate.
None of the released images depict any sexual misconduct, nor are they believed to depict underage girls. It was not immediately clear when or where they were taken, or by whom.
In a statement,White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said House Democrats were"selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative."
She pointed to Democrats who have previously been tied to Epstein through document dumps, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic Delegate Stacey Plaskett.
Plaskett exchanged texts with Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing.
A Democratic consulting group asked Epstein if he wanted to participate in a fundraising dinner with Jeffries in March 2013; Jeffries has said he has no recollection of the message.
"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," Jackson said.
"Releasing thousands of pages of documents, and calling for further investigations into Epstein's Democrat friends."
The Republican-led committee obtained the images from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.
The panel has so far released tens of thousands of documents, emails and communications that it received from the Epstein estate that continue to open new lines of investigative inquiry.
On Thursday, lawyers for the estate wrote a letter to the committee noting that they could review videos and photographs they had requested"taken at any property owned, rented, operated, or used by Epstein from January 1, 1990, through August 10, 2019."
"Like yesterday's production, it also includes documents that may not be responsive, but that the Estate was unable to confirm whether they were taken at a property owned, rented, operated, or used by Epstein," the lawyers wrote.
"The Estate has provided minimal redactions to these photographs; the redactions are limited to nudity."
Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told reporters the released photos were"significant," and noted that Democrats on the panel have only combed through about a quarter of the 95,000 photos that have been handed over.
"I think anything that we release is significant. I think – clearly, I think people should be able to make judgments on their own as to what they see in these photos. For us, this is about transparency," said Garcia.
In an earlier statement, Garcia said it was"time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."
"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. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW," he said.
A spokesperson for the committee accused Democrats on the panel of"cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump."
"We received over 95,000 photos, and Democrats released just a handful. Democrats' hoax against President Trump has been completely debunked. Nothing in the documents we've received shows any wrongdoing. It is shameful Representative Garcia and Democrats continue to put politics above justice for the survivors," the spokesperson said.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Bannon, Clinton, Gates, Allen, Branson, Summers, Dershowitz and Mountbatten-Windsor.
Clinton has never been accused by law enforcement of any wrongdoing related to Epstein, and a spokesperson has repeatedly said he cut ties with Epstein before his arrest on federal charges in 2019 and didn't know about his crimes.
A spokesperson for Gates has repeatedly denied that Epstein ever worked for him.
Gates has previously said he regrets meeting with Epstein, telling CNN's Anderson Cooper in 2021:"It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there."
Trump's ties to Epstein are well known. The two were part of the same social circles in Manhattan and Palm Beach.
But Trump has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing, and he and his team have previously derided Epstein as a"creep" whom Trump expelled from his club.
The images released by Democrats on Friday also included images of sex toys.
In a recent batch of emails released by the committee, Epstein claimed that Trump"spent hours" with one of Epstein's most prominent accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre.
Epstein also wrote in an email that Trump"knew about the girls" – an apparent reference to Trump's claim that he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club for poaching young women who worked there.
In the wake of those emails, Trump and the White House cast the issue as a"hoax" with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying the emails "prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong".
CNN's review of thousands of pages of Epstein's emails shows that, over the years, Epstein repeatedly invoked Trump — sometimes to offer analysis of his behaviour, sometimes to gossip, and sometimes simply to position himself as someone with rare insight into the man who had become president.
Others who have been associated with Epstein have faced professional or other consequences for that relationship, even though they, too, were not accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
Summers took leave from teaching at Harvard and resigned from his position on the board ofOpenAI; he has said he is"deeply ashamed" of maintaining ties to Epstein and, while stepping back from public roles, would work to"rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me."
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor relinquished the use of hisroyal titles; he has denied any allegations of misconduct.
Separately, under a law passed by Congress last month, the Justice Department has until December 19 to release all of the Epstein files in its possession.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who led the charge to circumvent GOP leadership and force the legislation, warned that the DOJ would be committing a crime if they do not abide by next week's deadline.
"It's acrime if they don't. It's not like they're in contempt of Congress because they didn't respond to a subpoena. This is a new law with criminal implications if they don't follow it," the Kentucky Republican said.
Massie noted, however, that he was"encouraged" that more grand jury materials have been released to the DOJ.
Garcia called Friday for the administration to release what they can now, rather than wait until the deadline, and noted that there are other photos that are"incredibly disturbing".
"Right now, our plan is to demand that the president release the files, and we'll see what he does on the, on the 19th, but I think again, these pictures, some of these photos, are really disturbing," he said.
And I know we've put some out today. There are many others. And some of the other photos that we did not put out today are incredibly disturbing."
