The Copenhagen Post | Epstein’s assistant names new potential abusers by Ritzau

AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information.

A long‑time assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, Sarah Kellen, disclosed three previously unknown names of suspected abusers within Epstein’s network during a closed‑door hearing of the Republican‑led U.S. congressional committee investigating Epstein’s crimes; Chairman James Comer called the information a promising lead but refused to reveal the identities, saying they would be made public when appropriate.

Read more: https://cphpost.dk/2026-05-22/news/round-up/epsteins-assistant-names-new-potential-abusers/

#JeffreyEpstein #SarahKellen #JamesComer #Congressionalcommittee #Lawenforcement

https://youtube.com/shorts/jQ9aZ4gykng?si=KacQKePdeTR3tSq1

#congressionalcommittee

55 Media Organizations Urge Congress to Drop Subpoena of Photojournalist’s Phone

A group of 55 media organizations and advocates for press freedom have sent a letter urging the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol to withdraw a subpoena to a photojournalist's phone records.

Initial Lawsuit Filed to Block the Subpoena

Photojournalist Amy Harris filed a lawsuit on December 16 against the Congressional Committee to block access to her records that are included in a subpoena that was served to Verizon on November 24, 2021, which would grant subscriber information and call detail records to the committee for the period November 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021.

Harris, who spent 2020 photographing the racial justice protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and at other events of unrest that led up to and followed the 2020 presidential election argues that the records contain the phone numbers of confidential and non-confidential sources, which if revealed would endanger them as well as her.

“While the NPPA greatly appreciates the crucial mission of the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, we believe it is misguided for members to subpoena the phone records of a visual journalist who risked her health and safety to report on and photograph protests on both sides of the political spectrum,” Akili-Casundria Ramsess, NPPA executive director, said at the time.

Letter to the Select Committee

Today, a group of 55 media organizations and advocates for press freedom through The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press that includes Fox News, CNN, Vox Media, Buzzfeed, The New York Times, the LA Times, and the Washinton Post among others have urged the Select Committee to withdraw the subpoena for Harris's phone records.

"The undersigned members of the news media and advocates for press freedom write to express our profound concern with reports that the Select Committee has issued a subpoena for the telephone toll records of a photojournalist, Amy Harris," the letter says.

"The events of January 6th were an attack on democracy, and it would be incongruous were a Congressional investigation into 1/6 to itself endanger the independence of the press. We respectfully urge the Select Committee to withdraw the subpoena."

The group says that while Congress does have the power to conduct this investigation, the act of newgathering is protected under the First Amendment and can be invoked against infringement of the protected freedoms.

"The Select Committee is seeking the type of information -- granular data about who called whom and when -- that could disclose the identity of confidential sources or impair Harris’s reporting on stories that have nothing to do with the 1/6 attack. That information is particularly sensitive, as the inability of a journalist to maintain the confidentiality of sources means sources will be less likely to come forward, which itself limits the free flow of information to the public," the letter continues.

"For that reason, confrontations between Congress and newsgathering rights have been rare. To our knowledge, the last time Congress contemplated using the press as an investigative arm of the legislature was during Justice Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearings, when a special counsel appointed by the Senate sought authorization to depose Newsday’s Timothy Phelps and National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg, as well as a subpoena for their phone records."

The letter says that following national outcry, lawmakers declined to do so in that 1992 case, and Senate Rules Committee, Sen. Wendell Ford of Kentucky said that granting “the requested orders could have a chilling effect on the media and could close a door where more doors need opening.”

"Constitutional protections for newsgathering reflect the reality, well known to the framers, that the press itself preserves democratic governance by promoting an informed electorate. It cannot do so if sources are concerned that speaking to the press will expose them to the burdens of a government investigation. The Select Committee’s subpoena threatens to compromise that independence, and we strongly urge you to withdraw it," the letter concludes.

“The National Press Photographers Association is very grateful to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the more than 50 media and press freedom organizations who joined the coalition letter seeking that the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol withdraw the subpoena and redress the chilling effect such action has on journalists,” says Mickey H. Osterreicher, NPPA General Counsel.

The letter, which can be read here, has been sent to the Chair of the Select Committee, Congressman Bennie Thompson and Vice-Chair Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

Image credits: All photos licensed via Depositphotos.

#culture #law #news #amyharris #congressionalcommittee #insurrection #january6 #legal #nppa #photojournalist #uscongress

Photojournalist Challenges Congress’s Jan 6th Investigation Phone Subpoena

Photojournalist Amy Harris has attempted to block the United States House Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol from gaining access to her phone records, saying the public release of the information could compromise her safety as well as her future work.

The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is currently engaged in an investigation to report upon the facts, circumstances, and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power. Obviously a complicated issue, the committee is looking to gather as much information as possible, but the NPPA argues it may have overstepped its bounds in relation to one photojournalist.

On December 15, Harris's lawyers filed a suit against the Congressional Committee to block access to her records that are included in a subpoena that was served to Verizon on November 24, 2021, which would grant subscriber information and call detail records to the committee for the period November 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021.

The filed complaint requests “a declaration that the cell phone data sought by the Verizon Subpoena is protected by the First Amendment, the federal common law reporter’s privilege, and the District of Columbia’s Free Flow of Information Act, D.C. Code § 16-4701 et seq., and enjoining the House Select Committee from obtaining or reviewing such cell phone data.”

According to the NPPA, Harris had spent much of her career as a music and concert photographer for the Associated Press, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to pivot and shift her focus as many of those events came to a halt in March of 2020. By May of that year, Harris had began photographing the racial justice protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and at other events of unrest that led up to and followed the 2020 presidential election.

Harris traveled to 23 cities where protests occurred and made over 50,000 images, with her work appearing in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, People, and New York Magazine. As part of that coverage, Harris was was part of a project focused on the “Proud Boys” and their leader, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio.

The NPPA says that her coverage of the group around the time of the January 6 insurrection may be what led to the Committee’s interest in her phone records, but argues that those records need to remain confidential to allow her to continue to do her job.

"Those records also contain the phone numbers of other confidential and non-confidential sources, impermissibly intruding on her protected newsgathering activities, damaging her ability to report on current and future stories, and placing her in danger from those who may wish to harm or harass her based on her reporting," the NPPA says.

“While the NPPA greatly appreciates the crucial mission of the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, we believe it is misguided for members to subpoena the phone records of a visual journalist who risked her health and safety to report on and photograph protests on both sides of the political spectrum,” Akili-Casundria Ramsess, NPPA executive director, says.

“Such actions have a chilling effect upon the core First Amendment values critical to the democratic principles the Committee was established to protect and we hope they will seriously reconsider their position in this matter.”

Header Photo: Members of Proud Boys and their leader, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, gather in the streets following the Million MAGA March on Dec. 12, 2020, in Washington, D.C., and burn a Black Lives Matter flag. Photo by Amy Harris

#culture #news #amyharris #congressionalcommittee #insurrection #january6 #law #legal #nppa #photojournalist #uscongress