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Clinton spokesperson calls for “immediate release” of all documents in Epstein file mentioning the former president
A spokesperson for former President Bill Clinton on Monday pushed the Justice Department to release “any remaining records” in the Jeffrey Epstein files that mention Clinton or include a photo of him, arguing the former president has nothing to hide.
Several photos of Clinton emerged Friday in the government’s initial release of files collected during its investigations into Epstein, including an image of Clinton sitting in a hot tub with an unidentified person. He has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña said Monday that Attorney General Pam Bondi should “immediately release” anything else it has on the former president, including photos, court records and internal Justice Department documents.
“[W]hat the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why,” Ureña said. “But we do know this: We need no such protection.”
It’s not clear whether the Justice Department has any as-yet unreleased files that mention Clinton.
Ureña has acknowledged for years that Clinton traveled with Epstein on multiple occasions, but says Clinton had no knowledge of the late sex offender’s crimes. On Friday, Ureña accused the government of trying to scapegoat Clinton.
Latest release includes over 11,000 files
The Justice Department’s newest release of files on Epstein appears to be its largest to date, with upwards of 11,000 files, many of which are multiple pages. The trove includes documents and hundreds of videos.
The release includes court records, emails, news clippings, photos, spreadsheets, audio and hundreds of video files.
The data set also appears to include FBI documents, internal Justice Department communications, court subpoenas, other legal documents and records related to Epstein’s 2019 death in federal custody, according to an initial review by CBS News.
Thousands of new documents from Epstein files released overnight
The Justice Department released a massive new trove of records on Jeffrey Epstein early Tuesday.
What Epstein files have already been released?
The initial batch of files came on Friday, Dec. 19, and consisted of five data sets.
The first data set was the largest of the batch. It included 3,158 photos of what appeared to be Epstein’s properties in Manhattan and the Virgin Islands, apparently taken by investigators.
The second set included 574 photos of Epstein’s travels and included some images of prominent figures. The third set included 67 PDF files, mostly inventories of photos found on CDs and DVDs and in scrapbooks. Many of those files included graphic material that was redacted.
The fourth batch of documents included 152 PDF files of call logs, phone records, handwritten notes and police files. The fifth group consisted of 120 images of hard drives, folders and boxes, apparently taken by investigators.
The final two batches of documents were released on Saturday. The sixth data set featured 13 files of grand jury presentations and interview transcripts. The seventh includes 17 more files from grand jury proceedings, court records and an internal Justice Department transcript of an interview with the U.S. attorney involved in an earlier federal investigation into Epstein in the mid-2000s.
Justice Department faces backlash over limited release of Epstein files so far
The Justice Department is facing continued backlash over its partial releases of the Epstein files, with lawmakers and survivors denouncing the limited scope of the disclosures.
A group of survivors called on Congress to hold hearings and take legal action to demand compliance with the law.
“It is alarming that the United States Department of Justice, the very agency tasked with upholding the law, has violated the law, both by withholding massive quantities of documents, and by failing to redact survivor identities,” they said in a statement Monday.
The survivors said the government released “a fraction of the files,” and said the material that was disclosed was “riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution Monday that would direct the upper chamber to “initiate legal actions” against the Justice Department to demand that it comply with the law. The New York Democrat is expected to force a vote on the measure when the Senate reconvenes in the new year.
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