Bill Clinton responds after 'scapegoat' photos of him are shown in newly released Epstein files
Topics: Jeffrey Epstein, US News
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Department of Justice
Topics: Jeffrey Epstein, US News
The representatives for Bill Clinton have issued a response after the 42nd POTUS appeared in several photos released as part of the Epstein files.
Some 300,000 files related to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, were released by the Department of Justice on Friday (December 19) ahead of a federal law requiring them to be made public.
The entirety of the files was due to be released; however, the Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted just hours before the files were made public that they wouldn’t be able to meet this deadline in full - a move that has caused some controversy with Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden dubbing it 'an insult to the intelligence of the American people'.
Nonetheless, the likes of Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Mick Jagger were among the famous faces pictured in the newly released files.
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It's worth noting that being named or pictured in the files does not indicate any wrongdoing, with many of those identified in previous releases having previously denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes.
Several photos feature the former US president, including one of him swimming in a pool with Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell and an unknown woman.
Meanwhile, another shows a portrait painting of him wearing a dress, and a third shows him lying on his back with his hands behind his head in a hot tub.
Clinton's chief of staff has since spoken out on the release of the images.
Angel Ureña said in a statement posted on X: "The White House hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton.
"This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy, 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be."
The spokesperson then cited White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' recent comments to Vanity Fair, in which she said there was 'no evidence' that Clinton made trips to Epstein's private island, Little St. James.
In the same interview, Wiles also refuted that there was anything incriminating about Clinton in the files, in contrast to what Donald Trump had previously said, adding: "The president was wrong about that."
"There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light," the statement from Ureña continued.
"The second group continued relationships with him after. We're in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that."
He concluded the statement with: "Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats."
Clinton previously expressed his regret about knowing Epstein in his memoir 'Citizen', writing: "I wish I had never met him."
The 42nd POTUS has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein's crimes.