WASHINGTON – The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Tuesday released over 33,000 documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The records were provided by the Department of Justice.
What they’re saying:
“On August 5, Chairman Comer issued a subpoena for records related to Mr. Jeffrey Epstein, and the Department of Justice has indicated it will continue producing those records while ensuring the redaction of victim identities and any child sexual abuse material,” according to the committee website.
FILE – US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman announces charges against Jeffery Epstein on July 8, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
The Justice Department released the files to the committee in response to a subpoena, but Democrats on the committee have said the files mostly contain information that was already publicly known.
Notably, the probable cause affidavit and other records from the 2005 investigation into Epstein contained a notation indicating that they’d been previously released in a 2017 public records request. An internet search showed those files were posted to the website of the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office in July 2017.
What’s in the files?
Dig deeper:
The files released Tuesday included audio of an Epstein employee describing to a law enforcement official how “there were a lot of girls that were very, very young” visiting the home but couldn’t say for sure if they were minors.
Over the course of Epstein’s visits to the home, the man said more than a dozen girls might visit, and that he was charged with cleaning the room where Epstein had massages, twice daily.
Some of the interviews with officers from the Palm Beach Police Department date to 2005, according to timestamps read out by officials at the beginning of the files.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from an August 7 news release on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability website and The Associated Press. This story was reported from San Jose.
