Donald Trump has broken his silence on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, expressing concern that people who “innocently met” the convicted paedophile could have their reputations destroyed. In his first comments since the justice department began releasing the materials on Friday, the US president on Monday voiced sympathy for prominent Democrats who have come under renewed scrutiny over their associations with Epstein.
“I like Bill Clinton,” Trump said of the former president, who featured prominently in the first batch of photos. “I’ve always gotten along with Bill Clinton; I’ve been nice to him, he’s been nice to me … I hate to see photos come out of him but this is what the Democrats – mostly Democrats and a couple of bad Republicans – are asking for, so they’re giving their photos of me too.” Trump added that “other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago” including “highly respected bankers and lawyers” could be unfairly damaged.
The president, who had a long association with Epstein and for much of this year resisted the release of the files, also tried to dismiss the disclosures as a “hoax” and a distraction from his own party’s achievements. “What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican party has,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He cited the example of Larry Summers, a Harvard professor and former Democratic treasury secretary who stepped back from public life after emails with Epstein surfaced.
However, the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), passed nearly unanimously by Congress and signed into law by Trump, mandated the complete release of the Epstein files by last Friday. The justice department has so far released only one batch of documents, prompting an outcry from survivors and members of Congress. On Monday, Clinton’s spokesperson, Angel Urena, issued a statement urging the department to release any remaining materials referring to Clinton, saying: “Someone or something is being protected.”
Urena said there was “widespread suspicion” that the department was “using selective releases to imply wrongdoing about individuals who have already been repeatedly cleared by the very same Department of Justice”. Epstein, a wealthy financier, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in what was ruled a suicide.
