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Investigative Body

The House Oversight Committee has published a collection of roughly 70 photographs obtained from the property of former convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the latest in a series of disclosure from a larger collection of in excess of 95,000 images the committee has obtained from Epstein's estate. It includes images of excerpts from the book Lolita inscribed across a woman's body, and censored photos of female international passports.

This release arrives hours before the December 19th cut-off for the DOJ to release all documents associated with its inquiry into Epstein.

"These new photographs pose additional inquiries about precisely what the DOJ has in its custody," stated the senior Democrat of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Photographs Disclosed

Several of the photos published on Thursday feature Epstein speaking with academic and activist Noam Chomsky inside a private jet; Bill Gates standing next to a individual whose face is censored; Steve Bannon positioned at a table across from Epstein, and previous Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner gathering.

Investigative Body

These are the latest wealthy, prominent individuals to be pictured in Epstein property images published by the oversight panel - earlier published pictures also depict US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as movie director Woody Allen, ex- US Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, counsel Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Showing up in the images is not indication of any wrongdoing, and several of the featured figures have stated they were in no way participating in Epstein's illegal activity.

In a statement accompanying the image publication, Lawmakers on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein property holders did not provide context or timings for the images.

"Images were chosen to furnish the American people with clarity into a typical cross-section of the photographs obtained from the holdings, and to offer perspectives into Epstein's network and his profoundly alarming actions," the announcement says.

Investigative Body

The publication also features a number of photos of excerpts from the Vladimir Nabokov literary work Lolita inscribed in black ink across several locations of a woman's body, such as her torso, feet, hipbone, and rear. Lolita recounts the tale of a minor who was manipulated by a older literature professor.

An example of a excerpt from the work scrawled across a woman's upper body says, "Lolita's name: the end of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to land, at three, on the teeth".

Additionally, there are a number of photos of female travel documents and ID papers from states around the world, like Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Committee

The majority of the information on the documents, such as names and birth dates, is censored but the House Oversight Committee said in a announcement that the travel documents are associated with "females whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were interacting with".

Another image depicts Epstein seated at a table intimately in the company of three individuals whose faces have been redacted - a first has her hand on Epstein's torso under his shirt, and another is bending to view a adjacent device. Epstein appears to be assisting the final person attach a piece of jewelry.

Oversight Panel

An additional photograph released is a capture of text messages from an unknown individual who claims they have been sent "a number of girls" and are requesting "$$1,000 per girl".

Photo Release Arrives Before DOJ Cut-off

The panel has many thousands of images in its holdings from the Epstein property, which are "at once explicit and everyday," its announcement on Thursday noted.

The House Oversight Committee first issued a subpoena to the holdings of Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while pending legal proceedings on accusations of human trafficking, in August.

The images and records the Epstein estate submitted to the body are different than what is largely called "the Epstein documents". Those files are records under the Department of Justice's custody connected to its own probe into Epstein.

In accordance with the Transparency Act, which President Trump enacted last month, the DOJ has until 19 December to disclose its files. The full nature of the contents found in the DOJ's files is unknown, and it's probable that a large amount of the content will be heavily censored, akin to the committee's materials