Bill Clinton responds after new Epstein photos of him are released

After featuring heavily in the latest release of images relating to the heinous crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, the deputy chief of staff for former president Bill Clinton has spoken out.

The politician, 79, was amongst the handful of stars to make appearances in the damning collection - the final release by the House Committee in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act of which, was given a deadline of Friday (19 Dec).

The likes of Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Donald Trump were also seen in images, which were used to convict Epstein on sex trafficking charges in 2019.

Prior to standing trial, however, the disgraced media mogul took his own life.

After failing to release all documents on time, the US Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, claimed his team needed to protect the victims of Epstein.

One image shows Bill Clinton swimming in a pool with Ghislaine Maxwell (Justice Department)

As such, he added, thousands more would be released over the coming weeks on a rolling basis.

Of the latest collection of images released, Bill Clinton features more heavily than any other high-profile individual.

In one photo, he is seen swimming in a pool with Epstein and his now-jailed co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as a woman whose face has been blanked out.

Another sees the Democrat standing between Epstein and another man, smiling as he drapes his arms the pair, whilst a third shows a woman whose face has been redacted sitting near Clinton's lap in what looks to be a private jet.

It's important to note, however, that these images do not demonstrate any illegal activity by Clinton, who has long maintained he had cut ties with Epstein long before the financier's 2019 arrest.

Bill Clinton is also seen in a hot tub (Justice Department)

The father-of-one also denies all knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

Responding to the photographs being made public, Angel Ureña - Clinton's deputy chief of staff - claimed in a passionate social media statement that the 'dump' of the files 'late on a Friday' was not intended 'to protect' the ex-politician.

Taking to X, she wrote: "The White House hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton.

"This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy, 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton."

Ureña went on to insist: "Never has, never will be."

Clinton's team have spoken out (Justice Department)

She went on to reference comments made recently by White House chief of staff, Susie Wells, in a controversial Vanity Fair interview, insisting there is 'no evidence' that Clinton travelled to Epstein's two private islands, where he is understood to have abused hordes of underage girls.

"There are two types of people here," Ureña continued. "The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light.

"The second group continued relationships with him after. We're in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that."

She concluded: "Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats."