The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has released 33,295 pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The release, made public Tuesday night, comes after months of pressure from both Republicans and Democrats demanding greater transparency in the case.
The trove includes court documents, surveillance footage, audio recordings, and flight logs. However, lawmakers from both parties acknowledged that most of the information isn’t new. Democratic members of the committee stated that approximately 97% of the documents were already publicly available through previous releases and court proceedings.
“As far as I can see, there’s nothing new in the documents,” said Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who ordered the files published online after receiving them from the Department of Justice following a subpoena issued on August 5.
Among the small percentage of previously unreleased materials are additional Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) surveillance video and some Customs and Border Protection flight logs. The newly released video footage covers roughly 13 hours from the night of Epstein’s death, which is two hours more than what the Justice Department released two months ago.
The expanded MCC video notably includes footage of what has been called the “missing minute” – a 60-second gap that appeared immediately before midnight in previously released footage. This gap had fueled conspiracy theories, though Attorney General Pam Bondi had earlier attributed it to the jail’s camera system automatically resetting each night.
The files also contain some Customs and Border Protection logs of Epstein’s private jet flights from 2000 to 2014, showing travel to and from his private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. While many Epstein flight records were previously public, these official government-kept logs may provide additional details.
The release comes as Republican Rep. Thomas Massie pushes forward with a bipartisan effort to force a House vote on a bill that would require the Justice Department to publish all of its Epstein files within 30 days. Massie filed a discharge petition Tuesday, though House Speaker Mike Johnson has argued the petition is unnecessary or insufficiently protective of victims’ identities.
Earlier on Tuesday, Johnson and members of the oversight committee met with six Epstein victims behind closed doors. “There were tears in the room,” Johnson told reporters afterward, describing the meeting as emotional. Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace appeared to leave the meeting crying.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia criticized the release, saying: “To the American people – don’t let this fool you. After careful review, Oversight Democrats have found that 97% of the documents received from the Department of Justice were already public.”
Despite intense public speculation, the files contain no “client list” of Epstein associates. The Justice Department and FBI stated in July that their investigation found no evidence Epstein kept such a list, and they reaffirmed the medical examiner’s conclusion that Epstein died by suicide.
The documents remain redacted to protect victim identities and remove any child sexual abuse material. The Department of Justice has indicated it will continue producing records while maintaining these protections.
A news conference with lawmakers and victims of Epstein is planned for Wednesday on Capitol Hill, where further details about the case and calls for additional transparency are expected.
