House Panel Releases 33K Pages of Epstein Files

The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday publicly posted the files it has received from the Justice Department on the sex trafficking investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. The folders contained hundreds of image files of years-old court filings related to Epstein and Maxwell, the AP reports. They also contained video files appearing to be body cam footage from police searches, as well as law enforcement interviews with victims with their faces obscured. The Justice Department released the files to the committee in response to a subpoena, but the files mostly contain information that was already publicly known.

• When the files were released to Congress on Aug. 23, Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee's ranking Democrat, said the only new disclosure was fewer than 1,000 pages of records of flight of Epstein's plane, the Washington Post reports.
• "After careful review, Oversight Democrats have found that 97% of the documents received from the Department of Justice were already public," Garcia said Tuesday, per CNN. "There is no mention of any client list or anything that improves transparency or justice for victims."

• The files released Tuesday included audio of an Epstein employee describing to a law enforcement official how "there were a lot of girls that were very, very young" visiting the home but couldn't say for sure if they were minors, the AP reports. Over the course of Epstein's visits to the home, the man said more than a dozen girls might visit, and that he was charged with cleaning the room where Epstein had massages, twice daily.
• Pressure is growing in Congress for lawmakers to act to force greater disclosure in the case. House Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to quell an effort by Democrats and some Republicans to force a vote on a bill that would require the Justice Department to release all the information in the files, with the exception of the victims' personal information.
• Acting quickly, lawmakers pressing for the full release of the files launched a campaign Tuesday for the House to take up their bill. Meanwhile, Johnson and a bipartisan group of lawmakers met with survivors of abuse by Epstein and Maxwell. "The objective here is not just to uncover, investigate the Epstein evils, but also to ensure that this never happens again and ultimately to find out why justice has been delayed for these ladies for so very long," Johnson said after he emerged from a two-hour meeting with six of the survivors. "It is inexcusable. And it will stop now because the Congress is dialed in on this."

• But there are still intense disagreements on how lawmakers should proceed. Johnson is pressing for the inquiry to be handled by the House Oversight Committee and putting forward a resolution that directs the committee to publicly release its findings.
• Lawmakers at 6pm released thousands of pages and videos via a cumbersome Google Drive, leaving it to readers and viewers to decipher new and interesting tidbits on their own. The disclosure also left open the question of why the Justice Department did not release the material directly to the public instead of operating through Capitol Hill. The House panel said the Justice Department "has indicated it will continue" producing records, CNN reports.