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Committee

The Congressional oversight panel has published a collection of roughly 70 photos obtained from the property of former convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This marks the third such release from a cache of more than 95,000 photographs the body has obtained from Epstein's estate. It includes photographs of excerpts from the book Lolita scrawled across a female's body, and redacted images of female international passports.

This release comes mere hours before the 19th of December deadline for the DOJ to disclose every records associated with its inquiry into Epstein.

"These latest images bring up more queries about precisely what the Justice Department has in its custody," remarked the Democratic lead of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What is in the Photos Disclosed

Some of the photos made public on Thursday show Epstein conversing with scholar and advocate Noam Chomsky on a private plane; Bill Gates standing alongside a woman whose features is obscured; Steve Bannon seated at a workstation facing Epstein, and former Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner event.

Investigative Body

These are the newest affluent, powerful individuals to be photographed in Epstein property images released by the committee - earlier published pictures also show US President Donald Trump and past president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, former US Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, attorney Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and other figures.

Being pictured in the images is is not considered evidence of any misconduct, and a number of the photographed men have stated they were never involved in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a announcement released with the photograph release, Lawmakers on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein estate's representatives did not supply background information or timeframes for the pictures.

"Photos were picked to offer the American people with openness into a typical cross-section of the photographs received from the property, and to provide perspectives into Epstein's circle and his exceptionally disturbing actions," the statement states.

Committee

The publication also features a number of photos of quotes from the Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita inscribed in ink across several locations of a female's body, such as her upper body, foot, hipbone, and back. Lolita tells the story of a young girl who was manipulated by a middle-aged literature professor.

A particular passage from the book written across a woman's chest states, "Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to alight, at three, on the teeth".

There are also a series of images of female passports and ID papers from nations around the world, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Oversight Panel

The majority of the data on the papers, such as names and DOBs, is redacted but the panel indicated in a press release that the passports belong to "women whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were interacting with".

Another photo features Epstein sitting at a desk in close proximity flanked by three individuals whose faces have been obscured - a first has her hand on Epstein's torso under his clothing, and another is crouching to look at a nearby computer. Epstein appears to be assisting the third individual put on a piece of jewelry.

Investigative Body

A further photo disclosed is a image of SMS messages from an unknown sender who says they have been sent "several females" and are demanding "$$1,000 for each individual".

Photograph Publication Arrives Prior to DOJ Cut-off

The committee has a vast number of photographs in its holdings from the Epstein estate, which are "both disturbing and everyday," its statement on this week explained.

The House Oversight Committee first legally compelled the estate of Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on accusations of sex trafficking, in August.

The photographs and files the Epstein estate's representatives provided to the panel are separate from what is often called "the Epstein files". Those are documents within the justice department's control related to its separate investigation into Epstein.

Under the recently passed law, which President Trump enacted in November, the DOJ has until the date of 19 December to disclose its records. The extent of what is found in the DOJ's records is not publicly known, and it's expected that a significant portion of the material will be significantly censored, akin to Congressional materials