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Committee

The House Oversight Committee has made public a set of around 70 photos obtained from the property of late found guilty sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the latest in a series of publication from a larger collection of over 95,000 photos the committee has acquired from Epstein's property. It features photographs of passages from the book Lolita scrawled across a woman's body, and redacted images of female international passports.

This action comes mere hours before the 19 December deadline for the DOJ to disclose every files associated with its probe into Epstein.

"These latest photos raise more inquiries about what exactly the Justice Department has in its custody," remarked the ranking member of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What is in the Photographs Disclosed

Several of the images released on recently depict Epstein conversing with scholar and advocate Noam Chomsky aboard a private jet; Bill Gates positioned alongside a woman whose face is redacted; Steve Bannon seated at a desk across from Epstein, and ex- Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner event.

Oversight Panel

These are the most recent high-net-worth, prominent men to be pictured in Epstein property photographs disclosed by the committee - previously released pictures also show US President Donald Trump and ex-president Bill Clinton, as well as director Woody Allen, ex- US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and additional individuals.

Showing up in the photos is is not considered indication of any illegal activity, and many of the featured men have stated they were in no way participating in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a statement released with the photo publication, Lawmakers on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein estate did not provide background information or timeframes for the photographs.

"Photographs were selected to provide the general populace with transparency into a illustrative selection of the photos received from the estate, and to offer insights into Epstein's associates and his profoundly troubling activities," the statement says.

Committee

The disclosure also features a number of images of excerpts from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita penned in black ink across various areas of a woman's body, such as her chest, feet, hip, and spine. Lolita recounts the story of a minor who was manipulated by a adult literature professor.

One excerpt from the book inscribed across a female's chest reads, "Lo-lee-ta: the point of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the mouth to alight, at three, on the teeth".

There are also a collection of images of female travel documents and official papers from states around the world, such as Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Oversight Panel

Most of the information on the papers, such as names and dates of birth, is obscured but the panel stated in a announcement that the travel documents are associated with "females whom Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators were involved with".

An additional photo depicts Epstein seated at a workstation closely surrounded by three women whose features have been redacted - a first has her hand on Epstein's chest under his shirt, and a second is bending to look at a adjacent device. Epstein can be seen to be helping the third individual put on a piece of jewelry.

Committee

Another image released is a screenshot of digital messages from an unnamed individual who states they have been sent "a number of girls" and are requesting "$$1,000 per female".

Image Disclosure Arrives Prior to DOJ Cut-off

The panel has thousands of photographs in its custody from the Epstein property, which are "at once disturbing and mundane," its press release on Thursday explained.

The oversight panel first issued a subpoena to the property of Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on accusations of human trafficking, in August.

The photographs and documents the Epstein estate provided to the committee are distinct from what is commonly called "Epstein-related records". Those are records in the DOJ's control related to its separate investigation into Epstein.

In accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump enacted recently, the DOJ has until 19 December to disclose its files. The extent of what's found in the DOJ's files is unclear, and it's likely that a large amount of the information will be extensively redacted, akin to Congressional materials