Dozens of new images from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released, including ones of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
The US Justice Department is required by law to release unclassified files from its investigation of the disgraced financier later today.
The latest batch of images released by Congressional Democrats includes close-ups of sentences from "Lolita," an infamous 1955 book about a man's obsession with a 12-year-old girl, scribbled in black ink across a woman's body, chest, foot, neck and back.
The redacted identification cards of women from Russia, Morocco, Italy, Czech Republic, South Africa, Ukraine and Lithuania were also included, as well as a late-night text thread about sending girls for someone identified as "j" for $1,000 each.
Bill Gates appears with a woman, who's identity has been obscured
|HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
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The 68 photos are among some 95,000 that Epstein's estate released to the House Oversight Committee.
Last week, oversight Democrats released 19 photos, including some featuring now-President Donald Trump, who dismissed the images as "no big deal."
As well as Mr Gates, professor and political activist Noam Chomsky and former Trump aide Steve Bannon are also pictured in the latest images.
Representatives for Mr Gates, Mr Chomsky and Mr Bannon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Committee Democrats said the images released "were selected to provide the public with transparency into a representative sample of the photos" and "to provide insights into Epstein's network and his extremely disturbing activities."
New images from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released
|REUTERS
Democrats said they had thousands more images, "both graphic and mundane," which they are continuing to analyse.
California Representative and top Democrat on the Oversight Committee Robert Garcia said: "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.
"We must end this White House cover-up, and the DOJ must release the Epstein files now."
Late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and former Trump aide Steve Bannon
|REUTERS
Writing from Lolita appears on a female body in this image from the estate of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
|REUTERS
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White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the latest release changes nothing.
"President Trump has been consistently calling for transparency related to the Epstein files and his administration has delivered," she said in a statement.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles earlier this week made the bombshell claim US Attorney General Pam Bondi "completely whiffed" her early handling of the Epstein files.
Ms Bondi had initially suggested she was going to release incriminating information about Epstein's alleged network of acquaintances but then backed off, upsetting supporters of President Trump.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles (left) earlier this week made the bombshell claim US Attorney General Pam Bondi "completely whiffed" her early handling of the Epstein files
| REUTERSMs Bondi said on Tuesday that Ms Wiles works tirelessly to advance Trump's agenda, adding that any effort to sow division within the administration would not succeed and that the team remains united.
Ms Wiles said in the interviews that she had read the Epstein documents and acknowledged that President Trump's name is in them but that "he's not in the file doing anything awful."
President Trump and Epstein were friends during the 1990s and early 2000s, but says he broke off ties before Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution charges.
He has consistently strongly denied knowing about Epstein’s abuse and sex trafficking of underage girls.
A handout photograph shows U.S. President Donald Trump with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
|REUTERS
New polling has suggested Americans are deeply skeptical of President Trump's handling of the Epstein scandal, though he is shoring up support among his core Republican followers who have long focused on the case.
The poll, completed on Monday, found that most Americans believe Mr Trump's administration is covering up information about the late sex offender, including his 2019 death and his ties to rich and powerful people, and do not believe the President's claim that he was unaware of Epstein's alleged trafficking of teenage girls when the two were friends decades ago.
Only 23 per cent of Americans approve of the way Mr Trump is handling the ongoing scandal, the poll found, while 52 per cent disapprove.
However, the poll found he appears to be easing the concerns of his supporters: 53 per cent of Republicans said they approved of the way he was handling the issue, up from 44 per cent last month.
That is still well below the 85 per cent approval rating Mr Trump enjoys overall among Republicans.
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