Trump says Epstein file releases risk ruining reputations of innocent acquaintances

Trump warns of Epstein file fallout

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that people who "innocently met" Jeffrey Epstein in the past risk having their reputations harmed by the release of investigative files on the convicted sex offender.

In his first comments since the Justice Department began releasing the files on Friday, Trump also dismissed the controversy over Epstein as a distraction from his party's accomplishments.

"This whole thing 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 home.

Former president Bill Clinton appeared prominently in the first batch of photos from the Epstein files released by the Justice Department, prompting Trump for a reaction.

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

"There's photos of me too," Trump added. "Everybody was friendly with this guy (Epstein)."

Trump described the release of images of Clinton and others as a "terrible thing."

"Bill Clinton’s a big boy, he can handle it," he said.

"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."

The Republican president said 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," 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 in what was ruled a suicide.

(WIth AFP inputs)