Trump complains Epstein files are damaging people who ‘innocently met’ him | Jeffrey Epstein
Donald Trump has broken his silence on the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files, complaining that people who “innocently encountered” the convicted pedophile could have their reputations destroyed.
In his first comments since the Justice Department began releasing the documents on Friday, the US president on Monday expressed sympathy for prominent Democrats who have faced scrutiny over their associations with Epstein.
“I love Bill Clinton,” Trump said of the former president, who was featured prominently in the first set of photos. “I always got along great with Bill Clinton; I was nice to him, he was nice to me…I hate to see pictures of him out there but that’s what the Democrats – mostly Democrats and a few bad Republicans – are asking for, so they’re giving their pictures of me too.”
Trump, who had a long association with Epstein and resisted releasing the files for much of this year, was speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. “Everyone was friendly to this guy,” he said. “But no, I don’t like being shown pictures of Bill Clinton. I don’t like being shown pictures of other people – I think it’s a terrible thing.
“I think Bill Clinton is a big guy, he can handle it, but you probably have pictures exposed of other people who innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago and they are very respected bankers, lawyers and others.”
Trump added that “a lot of people are very angry about posting pictures of other people that really have nothing to do with Epstein. But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party and you’re ruining someone’s reputation.”
He cited the example of Larry Summers, a Harvard professor and former Democratic Treasury secretary, who announced in November that he would step away from public life after email exchanges with Epstein were revealed.
Trump, who has tried to call the Epstein files a “hoax,” has also tried to portray them as a distraction from his own party’s accomplishments. “This whole Epstein thing is a way of trying to distract from the enormous success of the Republican Party.
“For example, today we’re building the biggest ships in the world, the most powerful ships in the world, and they ask me about Jeffrey Epstein. I thought that was it.”
In fact, there is no end in sight. The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), passed almost unanimously by Congress and signed into law by Trump, required the full release of the Epstein files by Friday of last week. But the Justice Department has so far released only one batch of documents, sparking an outcry among survivors and members of Congress.
On Monday, Clinton spokesperson Angel Urena issued a statement urging the Justice Department to release all remaining documents that reference Clinton in any way, including photographs. “Someone or something is being protected,” Urena said. “We don’t know who, what or why. But we do. We don’t need such protection.”
Urena said there are “widespread suspicions” that the department is “using selective releases to implicate wrongdoing against individuals who have already been repeatedly exonerated by the same Department of Justice.”
Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier, died in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in what was ruled a suicide.
