Bill Clinton says White House is using him as scapegoat after Epstein files release | Bill Clinton

A spokesman for Bill Clinton late Friday accused the White House of using him as a scapegoat after photos of the former president with sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as with a young woman in a swimming pool, were included as part of the congressionally ordered release of government records.

“The White House did not hide these files for months and then threw them out late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton,” the spokesperson said in a statement on X.

“This is about protecting themselves from what comes next, or what they will try to hide forever. So they can post as many grainy 20+ year old photos as they want, but this is not about Bill Clinton. It never was and never will be,” the statement added.

“Even Susie Wiles said Donald Trump was wrong about Bill Clinton,” he said, referring to comments made by the White House chief of staff to Vanity Fair in which Wiles acknowledged that Clinton had not been to Epstein’s Caribbean island despite Trump’s repeated assertions to the contrary.

Clinton has long claimed to have severed ties with Epstein around 2005, before the disgraced financier pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor in Florida.

In the statement, Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña said, “There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued their dealings with him afterward. We are in the first. No amount of stonewalling by members of the second group will change that. Everyone, especially MAGA, wants answers, not scapegoats.”

Photographs released Friday show Clinton in an underground swimming pool with Maxwell and a woman whose facial features were redacted, as well as on a plane with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, and at dinner with Mick Jagger, Epstein and other public figures.

The photo of Clinton in a swimming pool was later posted on X by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with the caption “Oh my God! and a red face emoji.

“Slick Willy! @BillClinton just chilled out, without a care in the world. Little did he know…” White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on X.

Epstein visited the White House at least 17 times during the early years of Clinton’s presidency, according to White House visitor logs cited in media reports. He then traveled with Epstein aboard the financier’s private jet in the years after he left office in 2001, including to Asia and Africa on trips related to the Clinton Global Initiative. Clinton was never formally accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

But Trump has repeatedly made insinuations about Clinton’s relationship with Epstein. Last month, he called on the Justice Department and the FBI to “investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton,” part of a long-running campaign to characterize the Epstein scandal as an issue solely related to Democrats.

The Justice Department photo comes as Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and presidential candidate, are scheduled to give testimony to the House Oversight Committee about their ties to Epstein.

The depositions, originally scheduled for last week, were pushed back to January 13 and 14. Committee Chairman James Comer threatened to initiate contempt proceedings if the couple did not appear for depositions by those dates, Politico reported.