Democrats Release Photos of Epstein Island as Maxwell Opposes Release of Grand Jury Transcripts

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released still images and videos from the Virgin Islands property of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the same day that lawyers for Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell argued against the release of grand jury materials in her criminal case.

The images, which do not show any people, were taken by the government of the US Virgin Islands in 2020 during civil litigation against Epstein’s estate. Some of the material appeared similar to material previously posted by Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe several months ago.

Included in the collection is an image of a room with a dentist’s chair in the middle and several masks on the wall, as well as a photograph of a blackboard containing the words “Power,” “Deception,” “Intellectual,” “Political,” and “Music,” along with several other words that are redacted.

Epstein was known to have dental chairs in his homes, and video from a police search of Epstein’s Palm Beach home in 2005 also showed a room with a chair and dental equipment.

In another image posted Wednesday, a large “No Trespassing” sign is seen leaning against a rock near the beach. A photograph containing a close-up of a telephone shows the speed dial buttons of several of Epstein’s employees.

The short videos show tours of a bedroom and bathroom, the shoreline and helipad, and the pool area.

After the initial release of a dozen images and four short videos, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee criticized committee Democrats for “headline-chasing” by releasing the materials as “never before seen” when similar material had been released previously. A later release contained over 100 additional images and videos.

Committee Democrats did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

A spokesman for the committee’s Republican majority also criticized Democrats for re-releasing only a small subset of the records.

“The House Oversight Committee has received approximately 5,000 documents in response to Chairman Comer’s subpoenas to JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, as well as his request to the US Virgin Islands,” the GOP spokesman said. “The Majority is reviewing these materials and will make them public soon, as the Committee already did with the more than 65,000 pages produced during this investigation.”

“It is strange that Democrats are again releasing selective information, as they have done before,” the statement said.

In 2022, Epstein’s estate agreed to settle its litigation with the U.S. Virgin Islands, paying the government $105 million plus a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of Epstein’s property and a refund of tax breaks Epstein’s companies had received over the years from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

On Wednesday, Maxwell’s attorney told a federal judge in New York that she is not taking any formal position on the Justice Department’s latest request to release grand jury transcripts from her criminal case, but also argues that releasing the materials would affect her ability to potentially obtain a fair new trial.

“Understanding that President Trump has signed the Epstein Transparency Act into law, Ms. Maxwell is not taking a position regarding the government’s request to unseal the grand jury transcripts and modify the protective order,” wrote Maxwell’s attorneys, David Markus and Melissa Madrigal.

“At the same time, Ms. Maxwell respectfully notes that she will shortly file a pro se habeas petition. Disclosure of the grand jury materials in her case, which contain unproven and unproven allegations, would create undue prejudice so severe that it would preclude the possibility of a fair new trial should Ms. Maxwell’s habeas petition be successful,” the attorneys wrote.

Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021. accused of five counts of assisting Epstein in his abuse of underage girls, was unsuccessful in her appeals of her 2021 conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, but she and her attorneys have indicated that she intends to file a habeas petition in the Southern District of New York.

Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, committed suicide in a New York jail in 2019.

The Epstein Transparency Act, passed last month by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump following the setback the administration received. from MAGA supporters seeking disclosure of the materials, contains exemptions that would allow the Justice Department to withhold records that “would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, provided that such withholding is temporary and specific.”

Before Maxwell’s direct appeals were exhausted, the Justice Department had cited her ongoing case as justification for rejecting a public records request, according to court records in a Freedom of Information Act case involving the Justice Department’s Epstein files.

It is unclear whether the Justice Department would seek to withhold the records based on the unlikely possibility that Maxwell would face a new trial.

However, the Justice Department has already cited the possibility of Maxwell’s retrial in other litigation as justification for withholding certain records related to the Justice Department and FBI’s searches and redactions of Epstein’s files.

In response to a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Bloomberg journalist Jason Leopold, the Justice Department cited a FOIA exemption that allows it to withhold records that, if disclosed, “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”

“Although Ms. Maxwell’s direct appeal rights have been exhausted, her attorney has stated that she intends to seek a writ of habeas,” the Justice Department wrote in a court filing on Nov. 24, five days after Trump signed the Epstein Transparency Act.

“[L]”Logic suggests that the existence of a pending motion … makes it reasonably foreseeable that an enforcement proceeding (i.e., a new trial) may occur, leading to the expectation that Waiver 7(A) may apply to protect materials whose disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with that new trial,” the DOJ wrote.

ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.