Sarah Kellen, a former personal assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, walked into a closed-door session of the House Oversight Committee on May 21, 2026, and named three individuals previously unknown to investigators as alleged abusers. Kellen, who was long viewed by prosecutors as a potential co-conspirator in Epstein’s operation, told the committee she was sexually and psychologically abused by Epstein for over a decade. In her prepared opening statement, Kellen said Epstein controlled, manipulated, and dominated her, adding that he gaslit her until she could no longer distinguish her own thoughts from his. The testimony marked a fundamental shift in how the case has been framed, with Committee Chairman James Comer stating he now believes Kellen was a victim rather than a co-conspirator.
Comer said the three new names were what the committee had been waiting for, expressing more optimism than he had felt in a long time. He also criticized the Department of Justice for waiting until 2019 to interview Kellen, despite her years inside Epstein’s inner circle. One day after Kellen’s testimony, reports surfaced that Prince Andrew’s investigation had expanded beyond Virginia Giuffre’s original claims. Buckingham House agreed to release documents related to Andrew’s appointment as a UK trade envoy between 2001 and 2011.
New files reportedly revealed that Andrew, who settled a lawsuit with Giuffre in 2022, was never vetted for the role, which reportedly came directly from the late Queen Elizabeth. The developments came on the heels of the January 30, 2026, release of what the Department of Justice called the final batch of Epstein files, comprising over 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images. The DOJ claims it has now released all files required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but lawmakers behind the law dispute this, estimating that billions of pages remain withheld or redacted. The DOJ’s own records reportedly indicate 6 million pages are relevant to the case, leaving roughly 2.
5 million pages unreleased. Lawmakers, including Representative Ro Khanna, are leading a bipartisan push for full disclosure. A new organizational chart of Epstein’s inner circle included names that were completely blacked out. The DOJ has maintained that no client list exists and that no evidence of blackmail was found, claims disputed by survivors, lawmakers, and independent investigators.
Committee Democrats released emails written by Epstein in 2011, 2015, and 2019, including one in which Epstein told Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump had spent hours at the house with one of his victims, calling Trump the dog that hasn’t barked. The White House dismissed the emails as politically motivated, and no criminal evidence connecting Trump has emerged. The files also reference David Blaine and David Copperfield, with documents showing unsavory relationships with Epstein. Photos recovered from Epstein’s Manhattan mansion showed him posed with Donald Trump, Pope John Paul II, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Being photographed with Epstein is not evidence of guilt, and Epstein’s strategy was reportedly to surround himself with powerful figures to make victims feel powerless. The FBI has claimed it found zero videos from Epstein’s properties, a contradiction with victim accounts describing a dedicated camera monitoring office inside his homes. This discrepancy has never been publicly addressed. In an unrelated development, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni officially settled their legal battle on May 7, 2026, nearly two years after it began.
The settlement terms are confidential. Unsealed court documents from January 2026 included emails from Sony executives stating Lively was done for and would probably never work in Hollywood again.