A day before the U.S. Department of Justice's deadline to release all of its information on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, House Democrats released 68 more photos from the estate of the disgraced financier. The pictures, released without additional context by the members of the panel, include passport photos of Epstein and pictures of body parts with handwritten notes.

Washington

House Democrats on the Oversight Committee have released 68 new photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, including passport photos, building plans, and images featuring MIT linguist Noam Chomsky. Some photos depict body parts with handwritten quotes from the book 'Lolita,' and the release has been described as emotionally challenging for Epstein's victims.

This marks the second batch of photos released, with previous images including public figures such as Donald Trump and Bill Gates. The release coincides with bipartisan calls for the U.S. Justice Department to disclose all Epstein files, though uncertainty remains about whether the department will meet the mandated deadline.

House Democrats release new Epstein photos ahead of Friday deadline

We're following breaking news out of the U.S. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have released more photos today from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's estate. There are almost 70 in total. The CBC's Chris Reyes is on the story for us. And Chris, what do these newly released images show? Yeah, 68 images to be more precise, Andrew. Good afternoon. So in total, this new batch, they include passport photos of Jeffrey Epstein, building plans for a new development on another island in the U.S., Virgin Islands, and two photos that include Noam Chomsky, the famed MIT linguist. There are also a number of photos of a person's body parts showing a handwritten quote from the book Lolita, which as a refresher is about an older man's sexual fixation with a 12-year-old girl. And so Andrew, just looking at these photos, I mean, what do they say? You could say they're provocative or even incriminating for someone like Chomsky, but really there's not a lot of context to these photos as they're being released. And for Epstein victims, that's exactly the problem. Really challenging as the photos drop. The first photo drop, I saw a room I was in on the island. I was with Jeffrey in New York, Miami, and on the island for many years. And it brings you back to that time. So what people really need to know is that these aren't just headlines. This is, we are real people with real stories, real trauma, real hurt. And so when we see those things, it's an image bringing you back to that moment in time. And it's actually really difficult. And Andrew, what that really tells you is that the story will not end with the release of these photos and even the release of these files as Epstein victims come out to give their context to them. This is the second batch released by House Democrats. The first one included photos with President Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Trump strategist Steve Bannon, Richard Branson. Now, President Trump has been repeatedly asked about these photos and his defense has been that these are photos that don't really reveal anything other than they were in each other's circles at that point in time, which is not new information. But for someone like Clinton's former treasury secretary and former Harvard president, Larry Summers, whose email correspondence was released showing a friendly relationship with Epstein, I mean, he has had to step back from some of his more public roles because of that. So again, I mean, there are gonna be consequences to these images as they're revealed and consequences to those files if they're released tomorrow. And tomorrow is the expected deadline for the US Justice Department to release the Epstein files. So tell us what you're looking out for. That's right. And the fascinating thing about the story, Andrew, really has been this bipartisan support and pressure to release these files. It's the reason why they were able to pass this bill that's compelled the release of all of the files by tomorrow. That was a deadline that they set. But now there's some doubt that that will happen. House Republicans have canceled a Friday congressional session. And here's what Democratic Senator Dick Durbin had to say about that. This administration has gone to the greatest possible political lengths to conceal this information from the American people. There must be something awful in there. And something else that another Democrat said, California Democrat Robert Garcia, he says that these new images raise more questions about what exactly the Department of Justice has in its possession and then urged again to release the Epstein files as soon as possible. Chris, thank you. The CBC's Chris Reyes, live in New York.

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