Images include scribbled sentences on a woman, ID cards and a text thread
Photos aim to provide transparency into Epstein's network, Democrats say
Justice Department required by law to release Epstein files by Friday
Updates to add White House response, paragraphs 7-8
By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats released dozens of new images from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, a day before the U.S. Justice Department is required by law to release unclassified files from its investigation of the disgraced financier.
The latest batch of images includes close-ups of sentences from "Lolita," a book about a man's obsession with a 12-year-old girl, scribbled in black ink across a woman's body — chest, foot, neck and back; redacted identification cards of women from Russia, Morocco, Italy, Czech Republic, South Africa, Ukraine and Lithuania; and a late-night text thread about sending girls for someone identified as "j" for $1,000 each.
The 68 photos are among some 95,000 that Epstein's estate released to the House Oversight Committee. Last week, oversight Democrats released 19 photos, including some featuring now-President Donald Trump, who dismissed the images as "no big deal." Billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates, professor and political activist Noam Chomsky and former Trump aide Steve Bannon are also pictured in the latest images.
Representatives for Gates, Chomsky and Bannon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Committee Democrats said the images released Thursday "were selected to provide the public with transparency into a representative sample of the photos" and "to provide insights into Epstein's network and his extremely disturbing activities."
Democrats said they had thousands more images, "both graphic and mundane," which they are continuing to analyze.
“Oversight Democrats will continue to release photographs and documents from the Epstein estate to provide transparency for the American people,” said California Representative Robert Garcia, top Democrat on the Oversight Committee. “As we approach the deadline for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these new images raise more questions about what exactly the Department of Justice has in its possession. We must end this White House cover-up, and the DOJ must release the Epstein files now.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the latest release changes nothing.
"President Trump has been consistently calling for transparency related to the Epstein files and his administration has delivered," she said in a statement.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by David Gregorio and Lisa Shumaker)
((nolan.mccaskill@thomsonreuters.com))
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