Hillary Clinton has hit out at Donald Trump after she addressed her husband Bill’s appearance in the Epstein files.
The former presidential candidate, who lost to Trump in 2016, sat down with the BBC in Berlin where she had been attending the World Forum.
It comes after millions of documents from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been made public, implicating many famous and influential figures.
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Among those named in the files is Donald Trump and former US president Bill Clinton. Being named in the Epstein files does not indicate wrongdoing.
Now, Clinton has hit out at Trump over his handling of the files, and made a big accusation against the Trump administration.She claimed that she and her husband Bill were being disproportionately targeted in a bid to pull focus from Trump.
« Look at this shiny object, » she said. « We’re going to have the Clintons, even Hillary Clinton, who never met the guy. »
Clinton also accused the Trump administration of attempting to ‘cover up’ the files.
« Get the files out. They are slow-walking it, » she said.It comes as the Clintons agreed to testify in a congressional investigation into Epstein after the House brought forward a motion to find them in contempt of Congress.
The bill proposed to find Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt over their initial refusal to appear before the House Oversight Committee, with Republican committee chair James Comer accusing them of ‘delay’.
Speaking to the BBC, Hillary Clinton said: « We will show up but we think it would be better to have it in public. »
She added: « I just want it to be fair. I want everybody treated the same way. »We have nothing to hide. We have called for the full release of these files repeatedly. We think sunlight is the best disinfectant. »
Hillary will testify on 26 February and Bill will testify the following day.
Responding to Clinton’s comments to the BBC, Trump said: « I’ve been exonerated. I had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. They went in hoping that they’d find it, and they found just the opposite. »
The US Department of Justice has previously released a statement responding to the allegations against Trump, which said: « Some docs contain untrue and sensationalist claims against Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.
« To be clear the claims are unfounded and false and if they have any shred of credibility they certainly would have been weaponised against Trump already. »
A statement from the White House also said: « By releasing thousands of pages of documents, co-operating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have. »
Congressman who viewed unredacted Epstein files claims Trump’s name is mentioned ‘more than 1,000,000 times’
Many of the names in the Epstein files have been redacted even if they are not victims of the infamous traffickers cr*mes
After the redactions, variations of Trump’s name appears at least 5000 times in the millions of files released by the DOJ on January 30, which have implicated major public figures including Howard Lutnick, Larry Summers and even Elon Musk, as associating with Epstein after his 2008 conviction.
The Democrats’ ranking House judiciary committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin viewed the uncensored documents earlier this week, causing him to echo concerns about ‘mysterious redactions’ of names relating to criminality.
Raskin also revealed that ‘Trump’s name… appears more than a million times. So it’s all over the place’ after he searched the unredacted files for variations of ‘Trump, Donald or Don’ a the DOJ’s Washington headquarters.While Raskin, speaking to Axios, questioned why the president appeared to be named so frequently, he added: « I obviously didn’t have the time to review each one, and I obviously cannot guarantee that every mention of a Donald is Donald Trump as opposed to some other Donald. »
The files were only released after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November, which required the department to release all its files relating to the dead convicted pedophile – with only limited redactions to protect the identities of victims.
However, many of the names blacked-out by the DOJ are not those of victims, something Raskin was able to confirm after viewing the uncensored files on Monday.
He said: « I was able to determine, at least I believe, that there were tons of completely unnecessary redactions, in addition to the failure to redact the names of victims, and so that was troubling to us.”
Raskin added: « I saw the names of lots of people, who were redacted for mysterious or baffling or inscrutable reasons. » Those included former Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner, who helped kickstart Epstein’s wealth and whose association with him has long been public.“You read through these files, and you read about 15-year-old girls, 14-year-old girls, 10-year-old girls,” Raskin told the Daily Mail. “I saw a mention of a nine-year-old girl today. I mean, this is just preposterous and scandalous.”
The Maryland congressman was joined at the DOJ by Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie, who have led the charge in the house for full transparency over the files. After the viewing the files, they decided to reveal six names that had been redacted.
One was Wexner, another was Italian politician Nicola Caputo, and Dubai-based shipping magnate Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem was also named. The other three are unknown individuals – Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze and Leonic Leonov.
Being named in the files does not necessarily imply criminality.
Rep. Khanna said: « If we found six men that they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those three million files? »
After Raskin’s claims of a ‘cover-up’ at the DOJ, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche fired back, saying: « The document you cite has numerous victim names.
« We have just unredacted Les Wexner’s name from this document, but his name already appears in the files thousands of times. DOJ is hiding nothing. »
King Charles has spoken of his ‘profound concern’ regarding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein.
The full statement from Buckingham Palace reads: « The King has made clear through words and through unprecedented actions his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect to Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct.
« While the specific claims are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police, we stand ready to support them as you would expect.
« As we previously stated, Their Majesties’ thoughts and sympathies have been and remain with the victims of any and all forms of abuse. »
Prince William and his wife Princess Kate have also released a statement through Kensington Palace.A spokesperson said: « I can confirm The Prince and Princess have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations.
« Their thoughts remain focused on the victims. »
The Epstein files detailed previously classified information regarding the former Prince Andrew’s relationship with Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
One new allegation is that the former financier sent a woman to the UK to have a sexual encounter with Andrew, while another claims Andrew and Epstein requested an exotic dancer have a threesome with them in Epstein’s Florida home.
Virginia Giuffre also alleged in her memoir that she was made to have sex with Andrew on three separate occasions. The former member of the Royal Family has long denied any wrongdoing.
It’s important to note being named or pictured in the Epstein files does not necessarily indicate any wrongdoing.
A photo of Andrew with his arm around the waist of Giuffre (17 at the time) at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home was doctored, the former prince has previously maintained.However, Maxwell seemingly suggested it was real in the latest batch of Epstein files to be released.
In a statement drafted to Epstein, her former lover, she wrote: « In 2001 I was in London when [redacted] met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family. I never asked [redacted] to give him a massage. »
She continued: « Prince Andrew came to my house to visit me – [redacted] was in the house and they did meet. »
The 64-year-old went on to say she had ‘no knowledge’ of Giuffre ‘having sexual activity’ with Andrew.
She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on child sex trafficking offences.
Thames Valley Police are currently assessing allegations Andrew shared confidential reports from his role as a trade envoy to Epstein.
