US President Donald Trump has said the release of files linked to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein is damaging people who “innocently met” him, expressing concern that reputations could be harmed.
Speaking to reporters on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trump made his first public comments since the US justice department began releasing the Epstein files last week, according to The Guardian.
“I don’t like the pictures of people being shown,” Trump said. “You probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago and they’re highly respected bankers and lawyers and others.”
Sympathy for Bill Clinton
Trump said he felt sympathy for former Democratic president Bill Clinton, who appeared in photographs released in the first batch of material.
“I like Bill Clinton,” Trump said. “I’ve always gotten along with Bill Clinton … I hate to see photos come out of him.”
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He claimed the releases were driven by political pressure. “This is what the Democrats – mostly Democrats and a couple of bad Republicans are asking for,” Trump said, adding that his own photos had also been released.
‘Everybody was friendly with this guy’
Trump, who had a long association with Epstein and resisted releasing the files earlier this year, said many people had social contact with Epstein without knowing about his crimes.
“Everybody was friendly with this guy,” Trump said. “But you ruin a reputation of somebody because they were at a party.”
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He cited former US treasury secretary and Harvard professor Larry Summers, who stepped back from public life after past email exchanges with Epstein became public.
Files a ‘distraction’, Trump says
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Trump also suggested the focus on Epstein was taking attention away 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 said, adding that reporters were questioning him about Epstein on the same day he announced plans for new US Navy ships. “I thought that was finished,” Trump said.
Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, in what authorities ruled was a suicide.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump, required the full release of related documents by last Friday. However, only one batch has been released so far, prompting criticism from survivors and lawmakers.
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On Monday, Clinton’s spokesperson, Angel Urena, called for the justice department to release all remaining material relating to Clinton.
“Someone or something is being protected,” Urena said, according to The Guardian. “We need no such protection.”
He added that there was “widespread suspicion” that selective releases were creating false impressions about individuals who had previously been cleared by the justice department.
