- US
Democrats on oversight panel released Epstein estate images. - Over
a dozen new photos from late sex offender. - Images
include now-President Donald Trump at estate.
House Oversight Committee Democrats said they are examining
over 95,000 photos taken by the estate, and three of the 19 images they
supplied feature Trump.
Trump is seen grinning in a black-and-white picture with a
number of women on either side of him whose faces have been obscured. In a
second picture, Trump is seen standing next to Epstein; in a third, less
visible picture, he is seated next to another woman, whose face is likewise
obscured, while wearing a loose red tie.
The collection of photos also features sex toys, a $4.50
“Trump condom” with Trump’s visage and the all-caps words “I’M
HUUUGE!” and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, former President
Bill Clinton, and former Trump counselor Steve Bannon.
Democrats were politicizing the inquiry by
“cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false
narrative about President Trump,” according to a representative for the
committee, which is chaired by Republican James Comer of Kentucky.
“These disturbing photos raise even more questions
about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the
world,”
Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat
on the oversight committee, said in a
statement.
“We will not rest until the American people get the truth.
The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”
The tens of thousands of images, according to Democrats,
include
“images of the wealthy and powerful men who spent time with
Jeffrey Epstein”
and
“photographs of women and Epstein
properties,”
and more will be made public in the days ahead.
To preserve the identity of Epstein’s victims, the
congressional Democrats claimed to have redacted the faces of the women.
Even though the US Department of Justice is anticipated to
make declassified Epstein files from its federal probe public late next week,
the committee is still obtaining and releasing papers.
An overwhelmingly bipartisan bill backed by Republican
Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Representative Ro
Khanna of California was signed into law by Trump last month, requiring the
Justice Department to make the Epstein files available within 30 days. That
window will expire on December 19.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the
White House.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, Trump and Epstein were
friends, although Trump claims that their friendship ended before Epstein
entered a guilty plea to charges of prostitution.
Trump has continuously denied being aware of the late
financier’s mistreatment and trafficking of minors for sex.
What legal implications could arise from these photos being
public?
The public release of Epstein prints by House Egalitarians
carries minimum direct legal counteraccusations for depicted individualities
like Trump, as they show social settings without substantiation of crime and
were attained via court- approved estate exposure.
No feasible claims arise under US sequestration torts( e.g.,
false light or intrusion), since images are literal,non-intimate, and released
under congressional oversight with faces redacted where needed; vilification
suits would fail absent false statements tying prints to wrongdoing, defended
by First Amendment newsworthiness.
Photos may fuel processes or grounds in ongoing civil suits(
e.g., against Epstein estate or Maxwell), but add little evidentiary value
beyond attesting known associations; no base for continuing civil examinations,
as previous examinations cleared Trump of involvement.
