Sunday, 21 December 2025
Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee released dozens of new, undated images from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate a day before the congressionally mandated Friday deadline for the Justice Department to publish his federal records. The photos include images of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, alongside New York Times columnist David Brooks. Public intellectual Noam Chomsky, filmmaker Woody Allen, and President Donald Trump’s former top strategist Steve Bannon are also featured.
While the images highlight the extensive network of Epstein’s connections across politics, entertainment, technology, and business, there has been no indication that the public figures pictured engaged in wrongdoing. Democrats framed the release as a push for “transparency” into what they described as a “representative sample” of the 95,000 pictures lawmakers say they received from Epstein’s estate.
Epstein died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges after years of public outrage over his efforts to evade serious federal consequences. The newly released photos coincided with heightened scrutiny of the Justice Department’s handling of Epstein-related materials.
This week, the DOJ unveiled a trove of records related to Epstein under a law signed by President Trump last month. The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the release of federal files, with exceptions for material that could jeopardize active investigations or raise national security concerns.
At least 16 files vanished from the Justice Department’s public webpage within hours of being posted, without explanation or public notice. Among the missing items was a photograph showing Trump alongside Epstein, Melania Trump, and Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The unexplained removals have intensified demands for clarity about what was published, what was taken down, and why. Early document releases have provided limited new insight, with key material still missing—including FBI interviews with survivors and internal Justice Department memos on charging decisions.
The DOJ has indicated it will release records in a rolling fashion due to redaction work. In the meantime, the appearance of Gates and Brin in Epstein’s photo files is likely to intensify public pressure on elite institutions, from Big Tech to legacy media, to address questions about the late financier’s history.
