Donald Trump DEFENDS 'big boy' Bill Clinton as he blasts Epstein files photo dump

US President Donald Trump has today blasted the latest Jeffrey Epstein files photo dump "a terrible thing".

The world leader even went as far as to defend Bill Clinton and other political enemies featured in the release. Famous faces, such as Michael Jackson, Mr Clinton, Sir Mick Jagger and politician Lord Mandelson, have also appeared in the thousands of photographs published online in the last few days.

But Mr Trump, himself named in the files, insisted the majority of those celebrities met Epstein innocently over the years. Yet, the billionaire financier was a convicted child sex offender who abused girls as young as 14 years old.

Speaking today in the wake of the release, Mr Trump, 79, said: "I know there are a lot of people that are angry about all the pictures of other people. I think it's terrible... This whole thing with Epstein is a way to try to deflect from the tremendous success of the Republican Party. I thought that was finished, a lot of people are very angry that this continues."

Speaking about the Democrat former president, Mr Trump added: "I like Bill Clinton, I've always gotten along with Bill Clinton. I've been nice to him, he's been nice to me, we've always gotten along with him, I respect him. Bill Clinton's a big boy, he can handle it, but you probably have pictures of people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago."

According to the Daily Mail, the world leader then blamed mostly Congressional Democrats for pushing for the latest drop. Mr Trump, though, admitted Epstein had connections everywhere back in the 1990s and 2000s.

The data dump came after US deputy attorney general Todd Blanche said the need to protect the victims of sex offender Epstein meant hundreds of thousands more documents would be released over the coming weeks.

The US Department of Justice were legally obligated to make all files related to the investigation into Epstein public by midnight on Friday following the passing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The paedophile financier was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

Both guards who were assigned to check on Epstein fell asleep while on shift and falsified their records. The apparent workplace blunder was exacerbated by the revelation that cameras in the holding area malfunctioned or were broken.