Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, told reporters that the tranche of photos the committee received from Epstein’s estate includes images of “powerful men,” women and the late disgraced financier’s properties. He emphasized that Democrats are committed to transparency and vowed to release all the information they receive.
Garcia said the committee received the photos “just last night” and had so far gone through roughly 25,000 of the 95,000 images that Epstein’s estate turned over. Some of the photos were sent to Epstein, while others he took himself, the California Democrat said. He called some of the yet-to-be-released photos “incredibly disturbing.”
“The thing right now that’s the most important is there is 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 actually get some sense of justice for the survivors,” he told reporters.
Garcia said the committee needs to issue subpoenas to get the emails tied to the photos, as well as records from several banks that did business with Epstein. When asked about the redactions in the images, he said, “Our commitment from day one has been to redact any photo, any information that could lead to any sort of harm to any of the victims, and we’ve been committed to that, and we’ll continue to do that.”
Garcia accused the White House of engaging in a “cover-up.”
“That needs to end,” he said. “There are women who were now, who were raped when they were children, who just want justice. Let’s release the files immediately.”