Thousands of Epstein-related records from DOJ released, Oversight Committee says

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said it has released tens of thousands of records related to Jeffrey Epstein, provided by the Department of Justice.

"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," the committee said in a release announcing the release of 33,295 pages of Epstein-related records that included a link for where to access them.

Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee have previously said that most of the files turned over by the DOJ are already public; California Rep. Ro Khanna has said 97% are in the public domain, while 3% are new.

Rep. Robert Garcia, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said a new disclosure in Tuesday's release is "less than 1,000 pages from the Customs and Border Protection's log of flight locations of the Epstein plane from 2000-2014 and forms consistent with reentry back to the U.S."

"The 33,000 pages of Epstein documents James Comer has decided to 'release' were already mostly public information. To the American people -- don't let this fool you," Garcia, D-Calif., said in a statement while calling for "real transparency."

A review of the documents released by the committee indicates they consist of public court filings and transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, previously released flight logs from Epstein's plane, already public Bureau of Prisons communications the night of Epstein’s death and various other public court papers from Epstein’s criminal case in Florida.

The 33,000 documents provided by the DOJ to Congress is just a fraction of the files the Department of Justice has in its possession.

The Trump administration has been dealing with the fallout from its decision not to release materials related to the investigation into Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019, following the blowback it received from MAGA supporters after it announced last month that no additional files would be released.

Epstein, whose private island estate was in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has long been rumored to have kept a "client list" of celebrities and politicians, which right-wing influencers have baselessly accused authorities of hiding.

The Justice Department and FBI announced in July that they had found no evidence that Epstein kept a client list, after several top officials, before joining the administration, had themselves accused the government of shielding information regarding the Epstein case.

Hours before releasing the records on Tuesday, members of the House Oversight Committee had a meeting with Epstein victims. Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer told reporters he intends to expand the scope of the investigation after hearing from the victims, including new witnesses.

"We're going to do everything we can to give the American public the transparency they seek, as well as provide accountability in memory of the victims who have already passed away, as well as those that were in the room and many others who haven't come forward," Comer, R-Ky., said.

Earlier on the House floor on Tuesday, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie formally filed a discharge petition -- a procedural tool to bypass GOP leadership and force a vote on a measure to compel the Justice Department to publicly release the Epstein files.

Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who serves on the House Oversight Committee, said ahead of the release of the Epstein-released files on Tuesday that she doesn't believe a vote to release them "will even come to the floor being that they will all be made public."

Though during House votes Tuesday night, Democrats were lined up on the floor to sign the discharge petition. Massie also said he still plans to move forward with it.

"I haven't had time to look at all the documents have been released by the Oversight Committee, but I think the scope of their investigation is such that the things they requested aren't even going to include all the things that we need, and the few documents that we have been able to view are heavily redacted to the degree that they wouldn't show us anything new," he told reporters Tuesday night.

"Somebody needs to show us what's new in those documents, to know whether it's moot or not," he added.

ABC News' John Parkinson contributed to this report.