What we know about the Epstein photos released by Democrats

Amna Nawaz:

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Newly released photos are offering a closer look at the influential and wealthy people who spent time with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Amna Nawaz:

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Newly released photos are offering a closer look at the influential and wealthy people who spent time with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Geoff Bennett:

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee say the batch of previously unreleased images came directly from Epstein's estate, and they include multiple images of President Trump and former President Bill Clinton, among others. It's not immediately clear when or where the photos were taken.

For more, we're joined now by White House correspondent Liz Landers.

Liz, thank you for being here.

First, we should be clear that these documents today are coming from Democrats in Congress. These are not documents from the Justice Department. Democrats have been rolling these materials out gradually, keeping the story alive.

What's new in this latest release?

Liz Landers:

So these are 90 or so more images that we're getting today, as you mentioned, selectively being released by the Democrats over the last few weeks and months.

These images today depict Epstein and the people that he socialized with. Some of these images, three of them, do contain photos of President Donald Trump. This was before he was president. One of these photos is him with six women. All of their faces are redacted. They are out of luau there, it looks like.

There's another photo of the president speaking with a woman. Her face is visible in this photo. And Epstein is standing beside Trump. And then there's a final picture of Trump on an airplane, it appears, sitting next to a blonde woman who also has her face redacted.

Now, I should be clear, the president is not accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. He said that they had a falling out many years ago because he thought that Epstein was a creep. Now, there are other very famous high-profile people that are also in some of these pictures that were released today, including former President Bill Clinton.

He's photographed with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was his former girlfriend. There's also a photo of Steve Bannon sitting at a desk. There are a number of other images of Woody Allen, Bill Gates, and more. There were also some sexual — sexually explicit images in here of sex toys.

There has been a lot of pressure on the administration to release more of these Epstein files, images, information to the public. We heard from Democrat Robert Garcia earlier today about that.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA):

The thing right now that's the most important is, there's one man who has the power to release the files and get to the truth and bring justice to the survivors. And that's Donald Trump.

And Donald Trump right now needs to release the files to the American public, so that the truth can come out and we can actually get some sense of justice for the survivors.

Liz Landers:

The congressman said that they have only released a fraction of what the committee has. They have apparently obtained more than 95,000 images. Only 90 or so of those came out today.

Geoff Bennett:

So how is the White House responding to today's release and the broader pressure around the Epstein files?

Liz Landers:

So White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson sent over a statement to us.

And she says that this is a cherry-picked release from the Democrats. They're trying to create a false narrative. And she says in part — quote — "The Democrat hoax against President Trump has been repeatedly debunked and the Trump administration has done more for Epstein's victims than Democrats ever have by repeatedly calling for transparency and releasing thousands of pages of documents and calling for further investigations into Epstein's Democrat friends."

We have heard the president repeatedly call this a hoax as well.

Geoff Bennett:

So the administration's deadline to release the Epstein files under the new law is next Friday, December 19. What should people realistically expect when that deadline arrives?

Liz Landers:

So this was passed in Congress, and President Trump at kind of the 11th hour endorsed Republicans voting for this. He signed this into law just a few weeks ago.

And this requires the attorney general to release — quote — "all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative material related to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell."

But this does give the Attorney General Pam Bondi the power to withhold information related to ongoing investigations or anything that identifies victims, Geoff.

Geoff Bennett:

And as we have been sitting here speaking, the president was speaking to reporters in the Oval Office. And in response to a question, he said this is no big deal. Certainly more to come.

Liz Landers, thanks to you.

Liz Landers:

Thanks for having me.