Trump dismisses newly released Jeffrey Epstein photos as ‘no big deal’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday brushed off the release of new photos showing him with Jeffrey Epstein, telling reporters the images were “no big deal” and insisting the late financier appeared in countless pictures with prominent people long before his 2019 death.
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“Everybody knew this man,” Trump said at the White House. “He was all over Palm Beach. He has photos with everybody. I mean, almost — there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him.”
Congressional Democrats released 19 images from the estate of Epstein, the convicted sex offender, as a deadline neared for a broader disclosure of documents tied to the case. The materials were made public by a congressional oversight committee.
The batch includes a black-and-white photo of Trump smiling with several women whose faces are redacted, an image of Trump standing beside Epstein, and a third, less-clear photo of Trump seated next to a woman with a loosened red tie. It was not immediately clear when or where the photos were taken. There is no suggestion the pictures indicate any wrongdoing.
Among the images is a photo of a novelty condom featuring Trump’s likeness, part of the eclectic trove cataloged from Epstein’s estate.
The renewed attention to Epstein has been a political headache for Trump for months, complicated by the former president’s past amplification of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein’s death. Many Trump voters believe officials in the Trump administration covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details about his death — ruled a suicide — in a Manhattan jail in 2019.
The Justice Department said in July that it found no evidence to justify investigating any third parties in the Epstein case and located no “client list,” no people involved in sex trafficking tied to Epstein, and no evidence that Epstein had blackmailed anyone.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week found that only about half of Republican respondents approve of Trump’s handling of the Epstein matter, well below his roughly 85% approval rating among Republicans overall. The gap underscores how the case continues to test Trump’s standing with parts of his base even as he seeks to shift attention back to the economy and immigration.
Trump and Epstein were acquaintances in the 1990s and early 2000s in South Florida’s social circles. Trump has said he severed ties before Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution charges, and he has consistently denied knowing about Epstein’s abuse and sex trafficking of underage girls.
While Democrats’ release of images adds fresh fodder to a long-simmering controversy, the photos themselves do not alter the public record: People in Trump’s orbit and beyond crossed paths socially with Epstein for years, as did politicians, financiers and celebrities from both parties. With a larger document release pending, the latest disclosures appear likely to keep the former president’s past associations in the headlines even as federal authorities say they have uncovered no broader criminal conspiracy beyond Epstein and his co-conspirators.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
