Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew Photos From Epstein's Estate Released; White House Reacts
The 19 photos initially released by Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee were a small part of more than 95,000.
Democratic members of the US House Oversight Committee released a selection of photographs on Friday from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, showing current President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and the former British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor among other prominent figures.
The 19 photos initially released by Democratic lawmakers were a small part of more than 95,000 they received from the estate of Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
They released roughly 70 more photos later Friday, including images of his home, Epstein taking a bath, a photo of him with a swollen lip, and a photo of him posing with a book about the scandal.
The photos released Friday were separate from the case files that the Department of Justice is now under compulsion to release, but anticipation is growing as the Trump administration faces a deadline next week to produce the Epstein files that have been the source of conspiracy theories and speculation for years.
The photos were released without captions or context and included a black-and-white image of Trump alongside six women whose faces were blacked out.
Rep Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, did not say whether any of the women in the photos was a victim of abuse, but he added, "Our commitment from day one has been to redact any photo, any information that could lead to any sort of harm to any of the victims," as reported by Associated Press.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson accused Democrats of "selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative" and called it part of a "Democrat hoax against President Trump," in a report in AP.
Trump, once a close friend of Epstein, has said that he parted ways with him long before he faced the sex trafficking charges. Clinton, too, has minimised his relationship with Epstein, acknowledging that he travelled on Epstein's private jet but saying through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of the late financier's crimes.
Clinton also has never been accused of misconduct by Epstein's known victims. However, Republicans on the House committee are pushing him and Hillary Clinton to testify in their investigation.
Andrew lost his royal titles and privileges this year amid new revelations of his ties to Epstein, though he has denied wrongdoing.
The photos come ahead of a key deadline next week for the Department of Justice to release unclassified investigative files related to Epstein, a disclosure mandated by Congress. The committee has vowed to continue releasing more images in the coming days and weeks.
