ISTANBUL

The US House Oversight Committee on Tuesday released over 33,000 pages of Justice Department records on disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, amid growing debate over what remains withheld and unanswered.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer issued a subpoena on Aug. 5, demanding the records. The committee said in a statement Tuesday that the DOJ indicated that "it will continue producing those records while ensuring the redaction of victim identities and any child sexual abuse material."

Only a small portion of the documents seems to be comprising new information, as Democrats on the House Oversight Committee also stressed that 97% of the Epstein files recently released were already open to the public.

- What do released files include?

The records released by the House Oversight Committee comprise flight logs, court filings, depositions, internal memos, and surveillance footage from the Manhattan jail where Epstein died.

They also include court transcripts and redacted police search footage involving Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s UK-born associate and former girlfriend, who is serving a 20-year federal sentence for helping procure underage girls.

The files entail Palm Beach Police Department reports detailing the initial 2005 sexual abuse allegations against Epstein, which resulted in a widely criticized plea deal that confined him for 13 months, much of it on work release.

While some high-profile individuals—like Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Prince Andrew—appear in flight logs or social contexts, there is no new documentation in these files proving any criminal conduct by them.

- Sexual abuse cases and victim-related content

The documents also contain evidence and recordings connected to Epstein’s sexual abuse cases.

This includes footage from searches of his homes, hundreds of flight logs of his private jet — the ‘Lolita Express’ — which were reportedly used to transport victims, and a Palm Beach Police property receipt listing items seized during the investigation, according to the New York Post.

Most of these records had been previously released or publicly reported.

Videos from the property searches show police entering Epstein’s now-demolished Palm Beach residence, including his closet, where photographs of women who appear nude and various drawings were found.

Redacted video interviews of Epstein’s victims are included, along with audio of an employee telling a law enforcement official that “there were a lot of girls that were very, very young” visiting the home, though the employee could not confirm whether they were minors.

Among the documents are emails exchanged between a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) regional director and an associate warden at the Manhattan jail where Epstein was found dead on Aug. 10, 2019.

“Please provide me with a daily update on this inmate, including his status and any changes/activities I should be aware of,” the BOP officials instruct the associate warden upon learning Epstein has been “removed from suicide watch and stepped down to psychological observation.”

The messages, exchanged 17 days before Epstein reportedly died by suicide in his cell, indicate that he had a "pending incident report of self-mutilation" and that Epstein himself asked to be put in protective custody.

- 97% of Epstein files released were already public, say Democrats

Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee said that nearly all documents concerning Epstein released by the Justice Department were already public, while calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to comply with a subpoena immediately and release all of the documents.

In a statement, they noted that their initial review of the 33,295 pages found that 97% had already been released by federal, state, or local authorities.

“The 33,000 pages of Epstein documents (House Oversight Committee Chairman) James Comer has decided to 'release' were already mostly public information. To the American people – don’t let this fool you,” the lawmakers added.

"There is no mention of any client list or anything that improves transparency or justice for victims," they further stated.

Democrats said the release, which came amid ongoing bipartisan efforts in Congress to secure the full disclosure of Epstein files, failed to meet the Justice Department’s legal obligation to provide full, unredacted files while protecting victims and censoring child sexual abuse materials.

- Jeffrey Epstein accusers call on Trump to release all case files, not to pardon Maxwell

Six women who say they were sex-trafficked by Epstein or his co-conspirator Maxwell delivered a joint message, urging the federal government to release additional case documents and calling on President Donald Trump to commit not to pardon Maxwell.

Jess Michaels, who claims Epstein raped her in 1991 when she was a 22-year-old professional dancer, described the late financier as a "master manipulator," NBC reported.

The other accusers — Wendy Avis, Marijke Chartouni, Jena-Lisa Jones, Lisa Phillips, and Liz Stein — expressed their desire for the documents to be released, as Trump had initially pledged on the campaign trail to do so to hold Epstein’s associates involved in criminal activity accountable.

“I’m coming here because there’s been a severe miscarriage of justice, a delay in accountability,” Michaels added.

Republican House leaders added legislation on Tuesday directing the Oversight Committee to continue investigating the "possible mismanagement of the Federal government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell.”

However, representatives Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) plan to hold a news conference on Wednesday on Capitol Hill with Epstein and Maxwell accusers, calling for immediate action and the full release of the Justice Department’s Epstein files.

The two lawmakers are leading a discharge petition that, if it secures enough House support, would compel a floor vote to release the documents.

Such a move would conflict with the Trump administration and the Justice Department, which have sought to release only certain documents in the "public interest."

While Trump initially expressed support for full disclosure, over the summer, he has faced tension with some party members and his base who promote conspiratorial theories about Epstein’s death and a supposed "client list" implicating other high-profile figures in the trafficking of underage girls.

Epstein was found dead in his New York City jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution.

Authorities determined that Epstein died by suicide, a finding corroborated by the Justice Department in July, when it said he was not killed.

That finding, along with the Justice Department's public determination that Epstein did not have a list of wealthy clients for whom he trafficked underage girls, sparked an uproar among Trump's Make America Great Again, or MAGA, supporters, who have long maintained he was killed as part of a government cover-up to shield Epstein's wealthy and influential inner circle.