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Tara Palmeri Asks If It’s a Coincidence Trump’s DOJ Released the Epstein Photos of Clinton First

Brett T.
Brett T.  |  6:00 PM on December 20, 2025

A new trove of photographs from the Epstein files was released on Friday. It prominently featured former President Bill Clinton, who, as The New York Post reported, was seen reclining nearly naked in a hot tub with an unidentified woman at his waist. As CNN's Scott Jennings said, "This entire case has BLOWN UP right in the faces of the Democrats," and we really ought to be calling them "the Clinton files." As our own Warren Squire reported earlier Saturday, there was quite the about-face from MS NOW legal correspondent Lisa Rubin, who a week ago had been suggesting the photo the House Oversight Democrats released of Donald Trump surrounded by women had their faces redacted because "the women were either underage or victims of Epstein." The new batch of photos with Clinton, she now says, shows him with other people and lacks context.

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Former ABC News and Politico reporter Tara Palmeri couldn't find anyplace better to go than on Jim Acosta's podcast, where she wondered why all of the photos that are coming out now during the Trump administration feature Clinton.

Palmeri wrote on Friday:

It’s been a hectic day. Jim Acosta and I went live at 4 p.m., not expecting to have to react in real time to the Epstein files and within minutes, the first tranche dropped.

We began where any reporter would: the photos. They’re the fastest way to understand how the Justice Department is framing this release.

The first data set was largely what you’d expect — images of Epstein’s properties, his home, the crime scenes. But the next batch told a different story. It appeared front-loaded with photos of Bill Clinton from trips he took with Epstein.

There were more than a dozen images of the former president: Clinton in a pool, in a hot tub, at various stops along their travels together. Two photos show him posing with women whose faces are redacted — individuals who may be victims.

Clinton’s relationship with Epstein is disturbing and deserves scrutiny. But what’s troubling is how deliberately these images were placed at the forefront of the release. The DOJ isn’t just releasing files, it’s shaping a narrative. And the narrative begins with Trump’s political rival.

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Almost the way the House Oversight Democrats tried to shape the narrative by releasing the photo with the women's faces blacked out, even though it had been floating around unredacted for years.

Maybe they're releasing so many photos with Clinton in them because there are so many photos with Clinton in them. They wanted the files released, but not these files first.

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