WASHINGTON : The US House of Representatives oversight committee on Tuesday released thousands of pages of records related to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from the department of justice.
The release comes as the Trump administration has been embroiled in months of controversy over its decision not to release additional files in the case. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges and was alleged to have abused hundreds of girls.
The 33,000 pages included years-old court filings related to Epstein and his former girlfriend and associate Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as what appears to be bodycam footage from police searches and police interviews. The files appear to contain information that is already public knowledge.
The records were posted online as the Trump administration was facing renewed attention on the investigation into Epstein. With Congress back in session this week, Democratic and Republican representatives had planned to hold press conferences to demand greater transparency from the administration in the case.
Donald Trump, a longtime friend of Epstein and part of his rich and powerful social circle, has, in recent weeks, tried to avoid the subject. Earlier this year he sued the Wall Street Journal for its reporting on his relationship with Epstein on a birthday note Trump was alleged to have written to him. The president has called the recent Epstein controversy a hoax.
The White House has urged Republican lawmakers not to support a discharge petition from Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, which would force the release of all of the Epstein files.
James Comer, the Republican chair of the committee, said there was no need for the discharge petition since the committee had subpoenaed the records. The question of how many of the files will be released by the committee remains unanswered.
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, said the petition was “moot” because of the release.
“It’s superfluous at this point, and I think we’re achieving the desired end here,” he said.
Johnson was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who met with survivors of abuse by Epstein and Maxwell.
The Trump administration has faced intense criticism, even from its fervent supporters, over its decision not to release additional files related to Epstein. A Reuters/Ipsos poll from July found that most Americans and the majority of Republicans believe the government is hiding details about the case.
Most of the documents released this week were already public, including records from the 2005 investigation into Epstein which contained a notation indicating the inquiry had been released previously in a 2017 public records request. The files include a recording of a police interview of an Epstein employee who told law enforcement “there were a lot of girls that were very, very young” visiting Epstein’s Florida home but said he couldn’t say for sure if they were minors.
The release appears to have done little to alleviate the controversy. Robert Garcia, the top Democratic representative on the House oversight committee, chided Republicans for releasing material that he said was almost entirely already available information.
“The 33,000 pages of Epstein documents James Comer has decided to ‘release’ were already mostly public information. To the American people – don’t let this fool you,” Garcia said in a statement.
Courtesy: guardian news
