Donald Trump has publicly commented on the inclusion of former President Bill Clinton in the infamous Epstein files for the first time.
The 47th US President spoke to reporters yesterday (22 December), mere days after the Department of Justice (DOJ) finally dropped the bombshell everyone was waiting for, making thousands of files linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein public.
Epstein, who was found dead in a New York prison cell after being arrested on sex trafficking charges in 2019, has been the subject of conversation for years, with calls to release documents pertaining to Epstein's case having gone on for a while.
Over 13,000 documents were shared by the DOJ on Friday, with several big names, such as President Trump, Kevin Spacey, Michael Jackson, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, among the celebrities pictured. However, being included in the files doesn't indicate any wrongdoing, and several have previously denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes.
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It's been said that at least 13 photos have disappeared from the website on Saturday, including one of Trump, which has since been reinstated. However, this led Democrats on the House Oversight Committee to question if anything was being 'covered up'.
Clinton, the 42nd President of the US, was also pictured numerous times and released a statement via a spokesperson about 'someone or something being protected', urging the DOJ to release the rest of the Epstein files.
Trump spoke to reporters about the inclusion of the former President in the pictures, saying he didn't 'like the pictures of other people being shown'.
A press conference was held to announce new battleships for the Navy, but, given it was the first since the largest release of the Epstein files yet, Trump was unsurprisingly faced with some questions.
“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,” the 79-year-old stated.
He even said he's 'always gotten along with Bill Clinton', that he respects him and that he 'hates' to see pictures come out of him in the files.
Trump then highlighted that 'this is what the Democrats and a couple of bad Republicans are asking for', noting that Clinton is a 'big boy' and can probably handle the scrutiny.
Photos were taken on Epstein's plane, his home, or at social events, among other settings, though the context surrounding where and when the pictures were taken is unknown, as the President pointed out that the 'tremendous backlash' to documents has come after it has put 'people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago' in a bad light.
The President added: “A lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein, but they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruin a reputation of somebody, so a lot of people are very angry that this continues.”
Angel Ureña, a spokesperson of Clinton's, claimed that photos of the former Democrat President were specifically chosen 'to imply wrongdoing about individuals who have already been repeatedly cleared by the very same Department of Justice, over many years, under Presidents and Attorneys General of both parties'.
"The Epstein Files Transparency Act imposes a clear legal duty on the US Department of Justice to produce the full and complete record the public demands and deserves," the statement read.
"However, 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."
Ureña said they are calling on Trump and Attorney General Bondi to release all remaining materials that mention or depict Clinton, including 'grand jury transcripts, interview notes, photographs, and findings' by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
He said: "Refusal to do so will confirm the widespread suspicion the Department of Justice's actions to date are not about transparency, but about insinuation - using selective releases to imply wrongdoing about individuals who have already been repeatedly cleared by the very same Department of Justice, over many years, under Presidents and Attorneys General of both parties."
Trump himself has acknowledged that he was among the people in the photos released in the document, though he has continuously denied any wrongdoing, claiming on Monday that the files were a distraction from his administration's work.
“What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has,” he stated. “I believe we’re going to have the most successful economy in history.
“They don’t want to talk about that - they want to talk about Epstein.”
Topics: Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, Crime, Celebrity, US News
Joshua Nair