A congressional panel has released thousands of Jeffrey Epstein files to the public as pressure in Congress mounts for further disclosure.
The House Oversight Committee released the trove of documents, which mostly contain information that was already publicly known or available, yesterday.
There were hundreds of images of court filings and body camera footage from police searches, as well as summaries of law enforcement interviews with victims detailing the abuse they suffered.
But the information isn’t fully new. Committee Chairman James Comer said: ‘As far as I can see, there’s nothing new in the documents.’
Democrat Robert Garcia added: ‘To the American people – don’t let this fool you. After careful review, Oversight Democrats have found that 97% of the documents received from the Department of Justice were already public.
‘There is no mention of any client list or anything that improves transparency or justice for victims.’
One video released shows footage from Epstein’s prison cell the night he died, providing two more hours of footage not seen. There are also interviews with victims of Epstein in the files.
Politicians in Washington have been urging authorities and President Donald Trump to allow full access to the files, which detail crimes committed by Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Yesterday, a press conference with Epstein’s victims was held, urging for the investigative files to be made public.
But Trump’s administration has claimed some of the files, including the infamous ‘client list’, don’t exist.
Trump, who was long rumoured to be among the clients listed in Epstein’s files, promised to release the information about Epstein once in office again.
In February this year, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the names of people on flight logs to Epstein’s private island would be released, claiming they were ‘on her desk’, before saying the list ‘didn’t exist’.
Epstein’s ‘list’ is a long-rumoured dossier of names of people – famous politicians and celebrities – who were ‘clients’ of Epstein.
It was alleged that those on the list flew to Epstein’s notorious private island in the US Virgin Islands, where alleged human trafficking and sex abuse took place.
In the years since Epstein’s death, multiple ‘leaks’ of the alleged list were shared online – one naming Prince Andrew, Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton and Stephen Hawking as some of the 187 involved.
Those names were recently revealed after a US Judge, Loretta Preska, ruled in December 2023 that documents naming the individuals be unsealed and made public.
But the entirety of the documents relating to Epstein and his crimes aren’t being released – and many of the documents made public yesterday are already public knowledge.
Trump previously dismissed further calls to release the records as ‘pretty boring’, adding that ‘credible information has been given’.
He told reporters: ‘I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody.’
The situation has raised more questions than answers, and the issue isn’t going away as easily as Trump had hoped.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche previously said: ‘This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead.
‘President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence.’
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