More photos from Epstein estate released by Democrats on House Oversight Committee - BBC
The nearly one hundred images we've seen today are not part of the "Epstein files", which the US Department of Justice is required to release by 19 December. Instead, these are pictures from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, which Democrats on the US House of Representatives' Oversight Committee have chosen to release, which they said is part of a "transparency" effort. Earlier today, the committee said in a statement that it was working through over 95,000 photos - some of which Representative Robert Garcia warned were "disturbing". At first 19 were shared, with many featuring famous names including US President Donald Trump, actor Woody Allen and British entrepreneur Richard Branson. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of those pictured. In response, a spokesperson for the Republican-led Oversight Committee accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump". The White House also condemned Democrats' efforts to "create a false narrative". Now, though, the Democrats have released more than 70 additional photos, which largely seem to feature parts of Epstein's resort on the US Virgin Islands, though were released without much additional context. We are ending our live coverage of the Epstein files for now, but you can stay up-to-date on the story here: New photos from Epstein estate show Trump, former prince Andrew and Woody Allen We have been looking through more pictures from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, released by House Oversight Committee Democrats. The lawmakers have not provided much context to go along with the latest photo drop from the Epstein estate, other than to say that they've been released for purposes of "transparency". Some of the photos appear to show a bathroom, a stairwell, decorating tools and a machine labelled "massage therapy system". It's unclear if these photos were taken on Epstein's properties. Our colleagues at BBC Verify have confirmed that Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel, appears in one of the photos released by House Democrats today from Epstein's estate. Barak was the prime minister from 1999 to 2001. Barak sits at a table and appears to be talking on the phone as the photo is being taken. Reports in American and Israeli media suggest Barak knew Esptein, with the New York Times reporting that Epstein had business investments with the former defence minister in the 2000s and 2010s. Barak has denied any wrongdoing and has called the allegations against Epstein "abhorrent" and cut off business ties with the financier, the Times of Israel reported. Epstein is not pictured in this photo with Barak, but the convicted sex offender was associated with many well-known figures. Merely being pictured in files related him is not an indication of wrongdoing by any of the parties mentioned. This video can not be played Watch: 'I know nothing about it', says Trump on recent Epstein photos released We just heard from President Donald Trump, who answered a question from reporter about Jeffrey Epstein while signing a bill in the Oval Office. "I haven't seen it, but everybody knew this man, he was all over Palm Beach," Trump said. "He has photos with everybody. He has hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him. That's no big deal, I know nothing about it." Trump appears in three photos released by House Democrats earlier today. There is no suggestion that these pictures imply anyone who appears has done anything wrong, and Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to knowing Epstein. The president was once a friend of Epstein's, but has said they fell out in the early 2000s, years before he was first arrested. The question of releasing the Epstein files has loomed over Trump’s second presidential term. Let’s take a look at the key moments from this year that bring us to this point. February July September 12 November 16 November 18 November 19 November 12 December One of the released photos shows a person holding up a copy of a book which Jeffrey Epstein was the subject of. The true crime book, Filthy Rich: The Shocking True Story of Jeffrey Epstein, was written by American author James Patterson. It's unclear when the photo was taken. As we've been reporting, two sets of photos have been shared today by Democrats on the US House of Representatives' Oversight Committee. In a statement linking to the latest 70-plus picture release, they say: "In the interest of transparency, we will continue to release photos from the Epstein estate." And, after earlier suggesting that they are working through over 95,000 pictures given to them by Jeffrey Epstein's estate, the committee adds there will be "more to come". While there are no photos of US President Donald Trump in this second round of photos from Epstein's estate, there is one of a pumpkin that was made to look like him. The picture shows a pumpkin with a face carved into it and a and a blonde wig. A sign on top reads "TRUMPKIN" in all caps and "Make Halloween Great Again", which appears to be a play on Trump's campaign line "Make America Great Again". Trump appeared in three of the photos released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee earlier today. We're combing through the dozens of photos just released. One of the most intimate photos in the batch is of a smiling Epstein in the bathtub, resting his head on a towel and holding the curtain over his body. It's unclear who took the picture. Another image in the release is an up-close, selfie-style photo which appears to show Epstein with a swollen upper lip. Again, we're not sure of the context of this, what might have happened or if someone was behind the camera. Featured in the new photos is a room we've already seen in previous releases from Jeffrey Epstein's estate earlier this month. At the start of December, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee shared footage and images of the convicted sex offender's infamous island Little St James. Now, we're seeing more pictures of a room on the island, which contains what appears to be a dentist's chair. The wall is adorned with prop masks, and there is bubble-wrapped clutter behind the tan-coloured chair. Among the slew of photos, one set features a number of images of a beachfront resort. It's unclear whether this is Epstein's island Little St James, but there's evidence of construction work on the property next to the sea. The next batch of photos released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee includes dozens of new images, many of them showing parts of Epstein's home on the US Virgin Islands. We are sorting through them now and will tell you about what we see here. As a reminder, the committee said earlier on Friday that it had obtained over 95,000 new images from the Epstein estate. It’s unclear how many more we could see. Democrats on the the US House of Representatives' Oversight Committee have just released another batch of photos from the estate of Jeffery Epstein, following the nearly two dozen publicised earlier today. The photos from earlier featured many recognisable faces, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates. We're now sorting through these new images and will bring them to you here. Stick with us. Some of the pictures released today - including this one - were first published years ago Nineteen photos have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The small-scale release is part of a much larger tranche of 95,000 photos that the committee says it is currently reviewing. The photos are not part of the long-awaited "Epstein files" - but serve as a reminder that the US justice department has just a week left to publish all files related to the convicted sex offender. A number of famous faces appear in the latest release. There is no suggestion that these pictures imply anyone has done anything wrong, and many of those featured in them have denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. Among those pictured are US Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, actor and director Woody Allen, US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, entrepreneurs Richard Branson and Bill Gates, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The BBC is contacting them for comment. Not all photos show these people in the company of Epstein. Some of the images have been seen before. Republicans - and the White House - have accused the Democrats of "cherry-picking" photos to create a false narrative about Trump. The senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee says "it will take days and weeks" to get through all the pictures. That brings our live coverage to a close - you can read more in our news story here. By Shayan Sardarizadeh BBC Verify has been analysing the 19 photos from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein published today by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Using reverse image search - an online tool which matches an image to any previous versions on the internet - we've been able to confirm that at least three of the photos have been seen before. One photo shows President Donald Trump alongside Epstein and a woman at an event. This was taken at a Victoria's Secret party in New York in 1997 and has been published by US media. Getty Images has different photos of Trump and the woman at the event and identified her as a model, Ingrid Seynhaeve. Another photo shows Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Bill Gates. We found the same photo on Getty Images and it was taken in 2018 at a summit in London. King Charles can also been seen in the original image but was cropped out of the version published by the Democrats. A third photo, shows Epstein standing alongside lawyer Alan Dershowitz, and this can also be found on Getty Images. It says it was posted online in 2016. BBC Verify will continue examining the photos, including those that appear to be new. This photo was taken at a 2018 summit, and is already public on Getty Images We've just heard from the White House, after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released 19 photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson echoes previous comments from Republicans, saying: "Once again, House Democrats are selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative." "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, releasing thousands of pages of documents, and calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends," she adds. As a reminder, Trump appears in three of the photos released today. He was a friend of Epstein's for years, but the president has said they fell out in about 2004, years before Epstein was first arrested. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. The images released by the House Oversight Committee today aren't accompanied by much context, which makes it difficult to interpret some of them. One shows a black desk with five framed photographs on the wall above. Not all of the photographs in this image are fully visible and most faces have been redacted. The location is also unclear. The one person who can be made out is Bill Gates, who also features in some of the other pictures released today - although not with Epstein. As a reminder, there is no suggestion that these pictures imply any wrongdoing. Gates's representatives have previously maintained that there was no business partnership or personal friendship between the pair, and Gates also told the BBC in 2022 that meeting Epstein was a "mistake". In one photo, Jeffrey Epstein is standing with his former lawyer, Alan Dershowitz. The photo of the pair included in the release is not new - it has been available via photo agency Getty Images for years. According to Getty, the photo was taken in 2004, though the exact location it was taken is not known. One of Epstein's accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, has previously accused Dershowitz of sexual abuse. Dershowitz denied the allegations and Giuffre later dropped her case, saying she "may have made a mistake" in accusing him. Another alleged Epstein victim claimed she was forced to have sex with Dershowitz. Dershowitz denies the accusation, saying he never met her. Representative Robert Garcia - the lead Democrat on the House Oversight Committee - says it received the photos on Thursday night, and Democrats have reviewed about 25,000 of them so far. Earlier he said around 95,000 photos have been given to the committee by Jeffrey Epstein's estate. Democrats have only published 19 of these so far. Speaking on Capitol Hill, Garcia says "it will take days and weeks to ensure that we go through those photos and that a redaction is done in the appropriate way". "Some of the other photos we did not put out today are incredibly disturbing," he says As a reminder, Republicans on the committee have accused Garcia and Democrats of "cherry picking" the photos to create a "false narrative" intended to smear President Trump. The release includes a photo of Epstein walking behind entrepreneur Richard Branson, who's holding up a notebook. The writing is not clearly legible but it appears to feature numbers with some sections crossed out. A reminder that there is no suggestion that these pictures imply any wrongdoing. Branson has come up previously in released documents. In an undated email, one accuser, Sarah Ransome, claiming to have seen sex tapes in Epstein's possession showing high-profile figures - including Branson. The New Yorker magazine reported, external in 2019 that Ransome had admitted fabricating the claim, but in an interview in 2024 she said she only walked back her claims because of threats to her family. Referring to the New Yorker report, a spokesperson for Branson's Virgin Group said at the time: "We can confirm that Sarah Ransome's claims are baseless and unfounded." As a reminder, Epstein was associated with many well-known figures, and merely being named in files related to the disgraced financier is not an indication of wrongdoing by any of the parties mentioned.