Donald Trump has defended Bill Clinton after photos of the former Democrat president alongside Jeffrey Epstein were released, calling it ‘a terrible thing.’
Clinton appeared numerous times in the bombshell tranche of documents on Friday, being seen taking a dip with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and a woman whose face was redacted.
Speaking at a press conference Monday, Trump said: ‘I don’t like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown, I don’t like the pictures of other people being shown, I think it’s a terrible thing.
‘I like Bill Clinton, I’ve always gotten along with Bill Clinton. I’ve been nice to him, he’s been nice to me, we’ve always gotten along with him, I respect him.’
Among the images, Clinton was pictured relaxing in a hot tub. Inside Epstein’s home, an infamous painting of Clinton wearing a blue dress was hung on the wall. Clinton, actor Kevin Spacey and Maxwell were seen in other photographs at the Churchill War Rooms in London.
Trump said it is likely that others who crossed paths with Epstein have been caught out and linked to the convicted child sex offender’s sick world.
He said: ‘Bill Clinton’s a big boy, he can handle it, but you probably have pictures of people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago.‘
Donald Trump defended Bill Clinton and other political enemies who were featured in the latest Epstein files drop, calling it ‘a terrible thing’
There were several photos of Clinton among the thousands of documents made public, including this image of him with Epstein
The president went onto blame ‘mostly Democrats’ and ‘a couple of bad Republicans’ for their release.
‘I know there are a lot of people that are angry about all the pictures of other people. I think it’s terrible,’ he said.
Trump continued to posit his theory that the files are a distraction from his administration’s achievements.
‘This whole thing with Epstein is a way to try to deflect from the tremendous success of the Republican Party. I thought that was finished, a lot of people are very angry that this continues.’
On Monday, Clinton released a statement, saying: ‘What the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected.
‘We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection.’
The former president, who wed wife Hilary in 1975, called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to ‘immediately release any remaining materials referring to, mentioning, or containing a photograph of Bill Clinton’.
He accused the DOJ of ‘selective releases to imply wrongdoing about individuals who have already been repeatedly cleared by the very same Department of Justice, over many years.’
Clinton further alleged that by not releasing the files, the DOJ would be confirming suspicions that its actions are about ‘insinuation’ and not transparency.
The huge trove of documents did not include dates or context from where they were taken. Being named or pictured in the files is not necessarily an indication of wrongdoing with Epstein.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act was driven by Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie, though with large amounts of bipartisan support.
Trump admitted that Epstein had connections everywhere back in the 1990s and 2000s.
‘Everybody was friendly with this guy. He was around, he was all over Palm Beach and other places.’
He then noted the toppling of former Harvard President Larry Summers who Trump said was ‘forced to resign from every board he’s on’, calling him Epstein’s ‘best friend’ before noting that ‘everybody was.’
‘I don’t like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown, I don’t like the pictures of other people being shown, I think it’s a terrible thing,’ Trump said
Trump, speaking at a press conference Monday, defended Clinton and blamed ‘mostly Democrats’ for their release and acknowledged ‘there are photos of me, too’
The president also briefly addressed Epstein’s infamous Little St James Island after discussing how Summers’ had been ‘ruined’ by photos of him there.
‘I wasn’t, I never went there, by the way. Fortunately, it’s nice, but I never went there.’
A group of 19 alleged victims of Epstein and his longtime associate Maxwell have accused the government of missteps in the partial release of the files.
They accused the DOJ of violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act by ‘withholding massive quantities of documents’ and ‘failing to redact survivor identities.’
They argued that the failure to release the full trove of files and the DOJ’s alleged lack of communication about its actions ‘suggests an ongoing intent to keep survivors and the public in the dark as much as possible and as long as possible.’
The records that were released by the DOJ last week – including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs, court records and other documents – were either already public or heavily blacked out, and many lacked necessary context.
There were few revelations in the tens of thousands of pages of records that have been released so far.
Another photo shows Clinton in a hot tub with a woman whose face was redacted. The files do not say when or where the photos were taken and there was little context surrounding them
Another photo shows Clinton in a pool with Epstein’s longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell and a person whose face was also redacted
Some of the most eagerly awaited records, such as FBI victim interviews and internal memos shedding light on charging decisions, weren’t there.
‘This law, enacted by a nearly unanimous vote in the House and unanimously in the Senate, and signed by the President, was clear. It afforded no permission for delayed disclosure,’ the alleged victims wrote in the statement released Monday.
‘Instead, the public received a fraction of the files, and what we received was riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation. At the same time, numerous victim identities were left unredacted, causing real and immediate harm.’
The women accused the DOJ of violating the law by failing to release all the files and claimed that omissions by redactions also amounted to failure.
‘These are clear-cut violations of an unambiguous law,’ the statement read.
A photo of Donald Trump flanked by bikini-clad women was among more than a dozen files that were suddenly pulled from public view over the weekend, leading to claims of a cover-up
The tranche of materials released Friday included photographs of former president Bill Clinton and other famous names such as pop star Michael Jackson. The pair pose with Diana Ross
‘Moreover, the partial release was done in a manner that made it difficult or impossible for survivors to find materials that would be most relevant to our search for accountability.’
The survivors further called lawmakers to take action to ensure the DOJ fulfills its obligations of the law, urging for ‘immediate congressional oversight, including hearings, formal demands for compliance, and legal action.’
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has now urged his colleagues to take legal action over the DOJ’s incremental and heavily redacted release of the records.
He introduced a resolution Monday that, if passed, would direct the Senate to file or join lawsuits aimed at forcing the DOJ to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act – the law enacted last month that required disclosure of records by last Friday.
‘Instead of transparency, the Trump administration released a tiny fraction of the files and blacked out massive portions of what little they provided,’ Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat said in a statement. ‘This is a blatant cover-up.’
In lieu of Republican support, Schumer’s resolution is largely symbolic. The senate is off until January 5, more than two weeks after the deadline.
Even then, it’ll likely face an uphill battle for passage. But it allows Democrats to continue a pressure campaign for disclosure that Republicans had hoped to put behind them.
The Justice Department said it plans to release records on a rolling basis by the end of the year. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of obscuring victims’ names and other identifying information.
Clinton is pictured heavily throughout the Epstein files, but has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of the financier’s victims
Sir Mick Jagger and the former US president have their picture taken with a woman
So far, the department hasn’t given any notice when new records arrive.
That approach angered some accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the transparency act.
Democrats accused Republicans of a cover-up after files that had been available Friday were no longer accessible on the DOJ’s website by Saturday.
The missing files included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showed a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers.
In that image – inside a drawer among other photos – was a photograph of Trump, alongside the pedophile, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime associate, Maxwell.
The DOJ said that the image of the Trump was flagged by the Southern District of New York ‘for potential further action to protect victims’.
Following furious backlash, the image was reinstated on Sunday morning after it was determined that ‘there is no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph’, a statement posted on X said.
Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years before the two had a falling-out, tried for months to keep the records sealed.
Though the president has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, he has argued there is nothing to see in the files and that the public should focus on other issues.
But Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the DOJ’s decision to release just a fraction of the Epstein files by the congressionally mandated deadline as necessary actions to protect the pedophile’s victims.
He pledged that the Trump administration eventually would meet its obligation required by law – but stressed that the department was obligated to act with caution as it goes about making public documents that can include sensitive information.
Blanche, the Justice Department’s second-in-command, also defended its decision to remove several files related to the case from its public webpage, including a photograph showing Trump, less than a day after they were posted.
He said the documents were removed because they also showed victims of Epstein. Blanche said the Trump photo and the other documents will be reposted once redactions are made to protect survivors.
‘We are not redacting information around President Trump, around any other individual involved with Mr Epstein, and that narrative – which is not based on fact at all – is completely false,’ Blanche told NBC’s Meet the Press.
He added that Trump has labeled the Epstein matter ‘a hoax’ because ‘there’s this narrative out there that the Department of Justice is hiding and protecting information about him, which is completely false.’
‘The Epstein files existed for years and years and years and you did not hear a peep out of a single Democrat for the past four years and yet … lo and behold, all of a sudden, out of the blue, Senator Schumer suddenly cares about the Epstein files,’ Blanche said. ‘That’s the hoax.’
The deputy attorney general’s comments were the most extensive by the administration since the file dump.
Federal prosecutors in New York brought sex trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019, but he killed himself in jail after his arrest.
Maxwell, Epstein’s onetime girlfriend, is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for her 2021 conviction for sex trafficking crimes.
The deputy attorney general also defended the decision by the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to transfer Maxwell to a less restrictive, minimum-security federal prison earlier this year, soon after he interviewed her about Epstein.
Blanche said that the transfer was made because of concerns about her safety.
‘She was suffering numerous threats against her life,’ Blanche said. ‘So the BOP is not only responsible for putting people in jail and making sure they stay in jail, but also for their safety.’
