Every few years something drops that reminds us how thin the line really is between the public image of the ultra-powerful and whatever happens once the doors close. Today is one of those moments arrived again.
A House committee just made public the first wave of almost 100,000 photographs recovered from Jeffrey Epstein’s properties after his death. And yes, the names you’d expect are there: Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Woody Allen, Prince Andrew, Steve Bannon, Alan Dershowitz, Larry Summers… the list feels endless.
I’ve been following the Epstein saga since the very first stories broke in Florida almost two decades ago. Each new document dump still manages to feel like a gut punch.
What the Newly Released Photos Actually Show
The batch released this morning is careful, almost surgical, in its redactions. Democrats on the Oversight Committee made sure every victim or potential victim has their face completely blacked out. That’s the right call, but it also makes the images strangely haunting.
One photo shows President Trump standing in the center of six women wearing Hawaiian leis. All six faces are hidden behind thick black bars. Another catches him seated next to a redacted woman on what looks like the infamous Lolita Express. A third has him standing just behind Epstein at some crowded event, both men smiling like nothing in the world is wrong.
Bill Clinton appears in a signed photograph alongside Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and two other people. Prince Andrew is there too, of course. Bill Gates makes multiple appearances in casual settings that look far too relaxed for comfort.
These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth.
Rep. Robert Garcia, ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee
Why Now Feels Different
We’ve seen flight logs before. We’ve read the black book. Court filings have come out in waves. But photographs hit differently. They freeze a moment that words can dance around forever.
There’s something about seeing Trump laughing with Epstein in the early 2000s, or Clinton signing that photo with Maxwell standing right there, that no deposition transcript can quite capture. It doesn’t prove criminal wrongdoing on its own, nobody sane is claiming that, but it forces everyone to remember these weren’t distant acquaintances. These were social circles.
And circles have edges. Who was inside? Who was kept outside on purpose? Who looked away?
The Sheer Scale Is Staggering
Ninety-five thousand photographs. Let that number sink in for a second.
That’s not a shoebox of party snaps. That’s an archive. Multiple properties, decades of parties, private islands, jets, ranches, Manhattan townhouses, Palm Beach mansions, all documented with the casual obsession of someone who believed he would never have to answer for any of it.
- Thousands of images of young women, faces now mercifully redacted
- Interior shots of every Epstein property most of us have only read about
- Casual hangouts with names you recognize from headlines and others you don’t, yet
- And still only the first tranche
Lawmakers say more releases are coming in the weeks ahead. If the pattern holds, each batch will peel back another layer.
The Political Firestorm Was Instant
Within minutes of the drop, both sides of the aisle were spinning. Democrats called it evidence of a continued “cover-up.” Some Republicans dismissed the entire thing as old news and political theater.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth nobody wants to say out loud: both can be partially right and still miss the point. The relationships existed. The access was real. Whether any individual in those photos knew about or participated in the trafficking ring is a separate, far more serious question that photographs alone can’t answer.
But they do answer a simpler one: Epstein wasn’t some lone wolf operating in the shadows. He was at the center of a solar system of money, influence, and celebrity. Gravity like that doesn’t form by accident.
What Happens Next
The Department of Justice still holds a separate, much larger set of investigative files. Congress passed a bipartisan law last month forcing full public release, but the clock is ticking and the current administration has dragged its feet before.
Survivors and their attorneys have been clear: they want everything out in the open. No more selective leaks, no more controlled drips. Full transparency, even when, especially when, it’s uncomfortable for the powerful.
In my experience covering these kinds of stories, daylight is usually the only thing that finally forces accountability. Secrets rot in the dark.
A Final Thought
Looking at these photos, I keep coming back to one thing. All the men smiling for the camera had everything: money, fame, power, access. Yet they still chose to orbit a predator.
Maybe some genuinely didn’t know the full extent. Maybe others suspected and looked away. Maybe a few are innocent of anything beyond bad judgment. History will sort it out, eventually.
But the girls and young women whose faces are now blacked out didn’t have the luxury of looking away. They deserve the full story, whatever it costs the rest of us to hear it.
More photos are coming. I’ll be here when they do.
