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Committee

The Congressional oversight panel has released a collection of approximately 70 images obtained from the property of late found guilty individual convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the third disclosure from a cache of more than 95,000 photos the panel has obtained from Epstein's estate. It contains pictures of quotes from the literary work Lolita inscribed across a woman's body, and obscured pictures of women's foreign passports.

This release occurs mere hours before the December 19th due date for the Justice Department to release every records associated with its inquiry into Epstein.

"These new photos raise additional questions about exactly what the DOJ has in its holdings," stated the Democratic lead of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Images Made Public

Some of the photographs published on Thursday depict Epstein in discussion with academic and activist Noam Chomsky aboard a private jet; Bill Gates seen alongside a female whose identity is censored; Steve Bannon positioned at a desk opposite Epstein, and previous Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner gathering.

Investigative Body

These are the newest wealthy, prominent figures to be seen in Epstein estate photographs released by the committee - previously published photos also include US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, former US treasury secretary Larry Summers, counsel Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Showing up in the images is is not considered proof of any illegal activity, and many of the featured men have said they were in no way involved in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a statement issued alongside the photograph release, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein property holders did not supply background information or timeframes for the photographs.

"Photos were selected to provide the general populace with transparency into a typical cross-section of the photos received from the property, and to give understanding into Epstein's circle and his exceptionally disturbing actions," the statement reads.

Committee

The release also features a number of images of excerpts from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita penned in black ink across various areas of a female's body, like her upper body, feet, hipbone, and rear. Lolita narrates the tale of a adolescent who was manipulated by a adult literature professor.

One quote from the work inscribed across a female's torso states, "Lolita: the tip of the tongue making a journey of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth".

The release also contains a collection of images of female identification and official papers from nations around the world, like Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Committee

A large portion of the details on the documents, like names and DOBs, is censored but the committee indicated in a statement that the travel documents belong to "women whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were involved with".

An additional image depicts Epstein sitting at a table closely in the company of three women whose identities have been redacted - one has her palm on Epstein's upper body under his clothing, and a second is bending to look at a close-by laptop. Epstein appears to be assisting the final person fasten a wristband.

Investigative Body

Another photo made public is a capture of SMS messages from an unnamed sender who says they have been supplied "a number of girls" and are requesting "$1000 for each individual".

Image Publication Arrives Before DOJ Deadline

The committee has thousands of photographs in its custody from the Epstein estate, which are "simultaneously disturbing and mundane," its press release on Thursday clarified.

The oversight panel first issued a subpoena to the property of Epstein, who passed away in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on allegations of human trafficking, in August.

The photographs and documents the Epstein estate submitted to the body are separate from what is often called "Epstein-related records". That material are records within the DOJ's possession related to its independent inquiry into Epstein.

Pursuant to the Transparency Act, which President Trump enacted in November, the DOJ has a deadline of 19 December to disclose its records. The scope of what's included in the DOJ's files is not publicly known, and it's probable that a large amount of the material will be heavily censored, comparable to Congressional releases