Washington, 29 Dec

With the Justice Department facing a Friday deadline to release files on convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, US House Democrats on Thursday published a fresh batch of photographs of his estate, showing notable figures including intellectual Noam Chomsky and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

The 68 images -- shared without added context -- are part of a much larger cache that Congress obtained from Epstein's estate and has been slowly releasing as pressure mounts on US President Donald Trump.

The cache also includes images of filmmaker Woody Allen and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, both of whom featured in an earlier photo release. However, being photographed on Epstein’s estate or knowing the late financier is not proof of guilt, as dozens of public figures have noted.

The pictures also show the skin of a woman, with writings from Vladimir Nabokov's ‘Lolita,’ a novel about a man's sexual obsession with a child.

The release of the ‘Epstein files’ has long been demanded by a public hungry to learn whether any of Epstein's rich and powerful associates knew about or participated in the abuse. Epstein's accusers have also long sought answers about why federal authorities shut down their initial investigation into the allegations in 2008.

Bowing to public pressure, Trump signed on 19 November a proclamation giving the Justice Department 30 days to release its files and communications related to Epstein, including information about the investigation into Epstein's death in a federal jail.

While it remains to be seen what exactly will be released, anticipation is high.