Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the Trump administration is hiding and "covering up" how it dealt with the Epstein files, while President Donald Trump said that the documents "totally exonerated" him and "pulled in" the Clintons into the scandal.
"Get the files out," Clinton was quoted as saying by Independent on Monday from Berlin, where she was appearing at the World Forum. "They're slow-walking this," she said.
The Epstein documents have included many mentions and photos of Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton. Both Clintons have denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes at the time they happened, and survivors and authorities have not accused them of any wrongdoing.
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Over the weekend, Clinton repeated her calls for transparency while speaking at the Munich Security Conference.
She described the content of the Epstein files as "horrifying" and demanded their full release.
"It is something that needs to be totally transparent," she said on a panel, reported Independent.
"I've called for many, many years for everything to be put out there so people can not only see what's in them but also, if appropriate, hold people accountable," she was further quoted as saying. "We'll see what happens."
I have nothing to hide, says Trump
Meanwhile, Clinton's comments caught Trump's attention. He said the Epstein files were biased and actually "exonerated" him.
"I have nothing to hide," the President told reporters on Monday, reported Independent. "I've been exonerated. I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. They went in hoping to find something, but they found just the opposite. I've been totally exonerated."
Regarding the Clintons, Trump said the files had "pulled them in". He called Clinton's recent comments in Germany a sign of "Trump derangement syndrome".
"They've been pulled in and many other Democrats have been pulled in," he claimed.
Both Clintons due to testify before Congress this month
Both Clintons are set to appear before Congress later this month, although they had initially indicated their intention to ignore what they called "invalid and legally unenforceable" subpoenas from the Republican-led Epstein investigation in the House, reported Independent.
"We will show up, but we think it would be better to have it in public," Clinton said in her BBC interview, as reported by Independent. She, however, arguing that she and her husband were being used as a "shiny object" to deflect blame from the Trump administration.
The Justice Department informed lawmakers over the weekend in a letter that it had released all pertinent documents it could to meet the requirements of last year's Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed after months of fighting with members of his own party who supported the legislation.
The Trump administration is still not meeting its responsibilities under the legislation.
"Your government is withholding information," Rep. Nancy Mace, one of the backers of the law, wrote on X on Saturday, reported Independent.
According to Independent, the Trump administration has released around two per cent of the data that investigators claim to have on Epstein. This information comes from an analysis and internal e-mails obtained by UK broadcaster Channel 4 News.
