US Democrats release more Epstein photos, including some featuring Donald Trump

Democrats have published more photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate as part of their pressure campaign for the full and immediate release of the Epstein files.

The images are from a tranche of 95,000 new photos provided by the late sex offender's estate to Congress's House Oversight Committee, congressman Robert Garcia said.

US President Donald Trump features in some of the photos, but their full context is not known.

Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, former US president Bill Clinton, film director Woody Allen, ex-prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, former Democratic Party adviser Larry Summers and businessmen Bill Gates and Richard Branson also feature in the images. 

All have previously acknowledged spending time with Epstein.

The oversight committee is investigating the US Government's handling of Epstein's case and subpoenaed the Epstein estate earlier this year.

The committee's Democratic Party members have since been releasing select Epstein-related materials as part of an effort to keep attention on the issue and intensify pressure on the Trump administration.

They say the newly released images "raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world".

Asked about the photos on Friday evening, local time, Mr Trump said he had not seen them and dismissed them as "no big deal".

"Everybody knew this man. He has photos with everybody," he said.

"I mean, almost there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him. So that's no big deal. I know nothing about it."

The photos were released in two batches earlier on Friday. The first lot of 19 photos mainly featured Epstein and his associates. The later release, of more than 70 photos, included many that appeared to be from Epstein's private island.

Mr Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said they were still going through the photos and would release more "in the days and weeks ahead". He said some of the unreleased photos were "incredibly disturbing".

"There is a White House cover-up right now in not releasing these files," he said. "That needs to end."

Earlier this month, the Democrats released more than 150 photos and videos from Epstein's private island, which they said provided a "harrowing look behind Epstein's closed doors".

In November, they released several emails between Epstein and his associates, in which they discussed Mr Trump.

The new batch of images has been released without information about when and where they were taken, and do not appear to depict wrongdoing. Some are photos of sex toys and do not feature people.

Mr Trump has not been accused of involvement in Epstein's crimes, nor those of his co-offender Ghislaine Maxwell, but has been criticised for campaigning on the release of the Epstein files, then resisting their release after becoming president. 

The other men pictured have well-documented links to Epstein dating back many years. There is no suggestion the images imply involvement in wrongdoing.

The images have been released a week before a legal deadline for the Department of Justice to publish almost all of its records relating to Epstein and his co-offender, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Legislation passed almost unanimously by the US Congress last month ordered the department to put the files online by December 19, US time.

But the act allows for the redaction of victims' personal and medical details, as well as information that relates to ongoing investigations.

"I think the Justice Department should put out the files today," Mr Garcia said. "What happens on the 19th, I'm hopeful they put everything out, it shouldn't be heavily redacted, the files shouldn't be tampered with."

A Reuters/Ipsos poll in the US this week found just 23 per cent of respondents approved of Mr Trump's handling of the Epstein issue, while 52 per cent disapproved.

Seventy per cent said they believed the government was hiding information about people who may have participated in Epstein's trafficking.

But White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the Trump administration had "done more for Epstein's victims than Democrats ever have", and the committee's Democrat members were cherry-picking photos to create a false narrative about him.

"It's time for the media to stop regurgitating Democrat talking points and start asking Democrats why they wanted to hang around Epstein after he was convicted," she said in a statement.

Mr Trump has said he ended his friendship with Epstein before Epstein was convicted of prostitution-related offences in 2008.