Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Friday, President Donald Trump dismissed the newly surfaced photos featuring him and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as “no big deal” and stated he had not even seen them.
The photographs, which show Trump with Epstein and multiple women, were part of a cache of 19 images released by Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee. Trump acknowledged his past association with Epstein, who was prominent in Palm Beach society.
“Everybody knew this man—he was all over Palm Beach,” Trump said. “He has photos with everybody… there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have them. That’s no big deal… I know nothing about them.”
Democrats Release Subset of Massive Cache
The 19 previously unseen photos were released by the House Oversight Committee Democrats from a larger cache of over 95,000 images obtained from Epstein’s estate. The images feature several high-profile figures, including former US President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, film director Woody Allen, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
The Oversight Democrats used the release to escalate pressure on the White House for full transparency: “These disturbing images raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. Time to end this White House cover-up. Release the files!“
One image shows Bill Clinton with Epstein and his convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell, which appears to be signed by the former President. The faces of several women featured in the photos have been redacted by the Committee to protect potential victims.
GOP Accuses Democrats of Political Games
The House Oversight Committee Republicans swiftly responded, accusing the Democrats of political grandstanding.
In a post on X, the GOP oversight account stated, “Once again, Oversight Democrats are chasing headlines by releasing a handful of selectively censored and cherry-picked photos from the Epstein Estate.” They added, “Nothing in the documents we’ve received shows any wrongdoing,” arguing that the “Democrat hoax against President Trump has been completely debunked.”
The release comes just ahead of the December 19 deadline for the administration to release all government files related to the Epstein case, a disclosure mandated by Congress.