President Trump said it’s a “terrible thing” that photos of former President Bill Clinton and other high-profile individuals were unveiled in the Justice Department (DOJ) release of files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I don’t like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown. I don’t like the pictures of other people being shown,” Trump said at a press conference on Monday, when asked if he was surprised by the number of Clinton photos. “I think it’s a terrible thing.”
“I think Bill Clinton’s a big boy. He can handle it. But you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago, and they’re, you know, highly respected bankers and lawyers and others,” he added.
Clinton was in several of the pictures released by the DOJ on Friday, after Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law late last month. One image shows the former president in a hot tub with an unidentified individual, while another shows a woman, whose identity is also hidden, sitting on his lap.
He has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and his alleged sex-trafficking ring, which reportedly included minors. A Clinton spokesperson, Angel Ureña, said Friday on social platform X that the former president was among those who “knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light.”
Ureña echoed concerns of many Democrats and a handful of Republicans who have criticized the slow release of documents on the late convicted sex offender, saying what the DOJ has released “makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected.”
“We do not know whom, what or why,” the spokesperson continued. “But we do know this: We need no such protection.”
The bipartisan law gave the government until Dec. 19 to release nearly all its files it acquired during its probe into the disgraced financier, providing few exceptions to protect victims and the integrity of federal investigations.
Trump on Monday said he’s “always gotten along with Bill Clinton,” adding, “I respect him. I hate to see photos come out of him.”
“This is what the Democrats, mostly Democrats, and a couple of bad Republicans, are asking for,” he said. “There are photos of me, too. Everybody was friendly with this guy, either friendly or not friendly, but they were, you know, he was around. He was all over Palm Beach and other places.”
“This whole thing with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has,” the president added.
Trump’s past friendship with Epstein has been well documented, and the two men have been photographed together in the past. A picture published Friday shows Epstein holding a check that had the president’s name on it.
Trump, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has previously said he threw Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago resort because the financier “took” young women working in the spa there.
Since Friday, the DOJ has released two other batches of documents related to the case. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the slow roll-out was necessary because of the redactions needed to protect witnesses.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pushed back, with some signaling moves to take legal action.