US President, Donald Trump has warned that the release of investigative files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein could unfairly damage the reputations of people who merely had innocent encounters with him in the past.

 

 

 

Speaking on Monday night at his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump made his first public comments since the US Justice Department began releasing the Epstein files last Friday. He dismissed the renewed focus on Epstein as a distraction from what he described as the Republican Party’s achievements.

 

 

 

“This whole thing with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has,” Trump told reporters.

 

 

 

Former US President Bill Clinton appeared prominently in the first batch of photos released, prompting questions about Trump’s reaction. Trump said he had always had a good relationship with Clinton and expressed discomfort over the release of the images.

 

 

 

“I like Bill Clinton. I’ve always gotten along with Bill Clinton. I hate to see photos come out of him,” he said.

 

 

 

Trump also acknowledged that he himself appeared in photos with Epstein, noting that Epstein had socialised widely.

 

“There’s photos of me too. Everybody was friendly with this guy,” he said.

 

 

 

He described the release of such images as a “terrible thing,” stressing that being photographed with Epstein did not automatically imply wrongdoing.

 

 

 

“Bill Clinton’s a big boy, he can handle it,” Trump added. “But you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago, and they’re highly respected bankers and lawyers and others.”

 

 

 

According to Trump, many people are upset about the publication of images involving individuals who, he said, had nothing to do with Epstein’s crimes.

 

 

 

“They’re in a picture with him because he was at a party and you ruin a reputation of somebody,” he said.

 

 

 

Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. His death was officially ruled a suicide.