Democrats release new Epstein photos ahead of DoJ transparency deadline

Democrats on the House oversight committee have released a new batch of photos from the estate of convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, as the deadline for the justice department to release its files related to Epstein looms.

The images, released on Thursday, are undated and lack captions or context. Among them are photographs of what appear to be lines from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita written on different parts of a woman’s body.

One image shows text written on a woman’s chest, that reads: “Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth”.

The second image shows a passage written on a woman’s foot: “She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock.”

Additional images show the line “She was Lola in slacks” written on a woman’s body, and the passage “she was Dolly at school” on a woman’s neck. The final image shows the line “She was Dolores on the dotted line” written on a woman’s spine.

This undated and unlocated handout image released by Democrats on 18 December 2025 shows the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, speaking to Noam Chomsky. Photograph: House Oversight Democrats/AFP/Getty Images

The release also includes photographs of Bill Gates posing with a woman whose face has been redacted, and of prominent linguist and philosopher, Noam Chomsky, sitting on a plane with Epstein. It has been previously reported that both Gates and Chomsky knew Epstein. Gates has previously said that he made a “huge mistake” in meeting with Epstein.

Other images show Woody Allen, the director, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former adviser; and David Brooks, the author and New York Times opinion columnist, among others. In November of this year, Brooks wrote a column titled The Epstein Story? Count Me Out.

Again, no context for these photographs has been provided, and the appearance of these people in the photos is not evidence of wrongdoing.

In a statement to the Guardian, a spokesperson for the New York Times said that “as a journalist, David Brooks regularly attends events to speak with noted and important business leaders to inform his columns, which is exactly what happened at this 2011 event. Mr. Brooks had no contact with him before or after this single attendance at a widely-attended dinner.”

The batch also includes photos of a number of foreign passports, with the information redacted, as well as Epstein’s US passport.

There is also a screenshot of a text message conversation from a unknown sender referring to an 18-year-old from Russia. The sender says “she asks 1000$ for the girl” and then “I will send u girls now”, and another text that says “Maybe someone will be good for J?”.

A photo of New York Times columnist, David Brooks, released on 18 December 2025 by House oversight Democrats. Photograph: House Oversight Democrats

The release comes less than 48 hours before the 19 December deadline for the justice department to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a congressional bill signed into law last month, requiring the DoJ to release its files related to Epstein.

In a statement after the release Robert Garcia, a US representative and ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform, said that “oversight Democrats will continue to release photographs and documents from the Epstein estate to provide transparency for the American people.”

“As we approach the deadline for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these new images raise more questions about what exactly the Department of Justice has in its possession,” he said.

“We must end this White House cover-up, and the DOJ must release the Epstein files now.”