‘Don’t let this fool you’: Democrats allege 'cover-up' as batch of Jeffrey Epstein files released
Democrats in the United States say there's been a cover-up after a trove of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein revealed little fresh information about the convicted sex offender.
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Up to 33,000 pages of documents were made public by the US House Oversight Committee after it issued a subpoena to the Justice Department amid an investigation into the disgraced financier and allegations he raped girls as young as 14.
The files included resurfaced videos from Epstein’s infamous Palm Beach mansion filled with pictures of naked women and his meetings with world leaders, as well as footage from the prison cell where he died.
Several clips from 2006 showing interviews with people alleging to be victims of Epstein were also included. Their faces were blurred and names deleted from the audio as they made claims of sexual abuse during massages.
Some of the documents are up to 20 years old and cover Palm Beach police’s initial criminal investigation into Epstein.
However, the Democrats say 97% of the files were already public as they issued calls of a cover-up.
“The 33,000 pages of Epstein documents were already mostly public information. To the American people – don’t let this fool you,” top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee - Robert Garcia - said in a statement.
He added: “After careful review, Oversight Democrats have found that 97% of the documents received from the Department of Justice were already public. There is no mention of any client list or anything that improves transparency or justice for victims”.
Democrat Melanie Stansbury hailed survivors for breaking their silence and branded the case as a "cover-up of epic proportions".
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, the Republican who ordered the documents to be published online, has acknowledged that little new information has come to light.
"As far as I can see, there's nothing new in the documents," he told NBC News.
It comes after the Trump administration came under fire for taking the stance that there was no further evidence regarding Epstein's clients to share with the public and confirming that he did die by suicide in 2019.
Donald Trump faced numerous questions about the relationship while on the campaign trail ahead of the 2024 US election. He said he would declassify the Epstein files.
But in April he said he was not sure when the files would be released in full. He later came out swinging, stating that there should be greater priorities.
"It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring, and I don't understand why it keeps going," Mr Trump said.
"I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going."