US President Donald Trump said that people who "innocently met" Jeffrey Epstein in the past risked having their reputations ruined by the release of the investigative files on the convicted sex offender.
Mr Trump, in his first comments since the US Justice Department began releasing the files last Friday, also dismissed the furore over Epstein as a distraction from his party's achievements.
"This whole thing with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has," he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago home.
Former president Bill Clinton featured prominently in the first batch of photos from the Epstein files released by the Justice Department and Mr Trump was asked for his reaction.
"I like Bill Clinton. I've always gotten along with Bill Clinton. I hate to see photos come out of him," he said.
"There's photos of me too," Mr Trump noted.
"Everybody was friendly with this guy (Epstein)."
Mr Trump said he did not like the release of pictures of Mr Clinton and others, calling it a "terrible thing".
"Bill Clinton's a big boy, he can handle it," he said.
"But you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago, and they're highly respected bankers and lawyers and others."
The Republican president said a "lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein.
"But they're in a picture with him because he was at a party and you ruin a reputation of somebody," he said.
Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in what was ruled a suicide.
The saga over the Epstein files, which has been dragging on for years, has caused a rift within the Republican Party, with MAGA supporters, who make up President Trump's core voters, clamouring for full disclosure of Epstein documents.
Mr Trump has at times called the episode a Democratic "hoax," but has also signed into law a bill requiring the full disclosure.
Bipartisan anger over the US Department of Justice's slow release of Epstein documents has grown as lawmakers threatened to launch an effort to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress and former President Bill Clinton sought the immediate release of any documents involving him.
"The DOJ needs to quit protecting the rich, powerful, and politically connected," Representative Thomas Massie, a maverick conservative Republican from Kentucky, said in a posting on X.
Earlier, Clinton spokesman Angel Urena issued a statement urging Ms Bondi to immediately release any remaining materials in the Epstein case that refer to Mr Clinton in any way ,including photographs.
"Someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this," Mr Urena said, adding, "We need no such protection."
Mr Urena said there is "widespread suspicion" the Justice Department is "using selective releases to imply wrongdoing about individuals who have already been repeatedly cleared by the very same Department of Justice."
He did not detail who else harboured that suspicion.
Massie and liberal Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California said they are working together, along with other unnamed lawmakers, on an effort to dislodge documents surrounding investigations of Epstein.
The two lawmakers said in an interview on MS Now that if necessary they would seek contempt of Congress charges in the House of Representatives for Ms Bondi next month.
They said that if their demands were not met following a "30-day grace period," they would work to have Congress seek fines of up to $5,000 (€4,250) per day until the documents are dispatched.
Meanwhile, a group identifying itself as survivors of abuse by Epstein complained in a statement that the public so far has received "a fraction of the files" and that those were "riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation."
They added that some victim identities were left unredacted.
The Justice Department has said it is working to clear more documents for release to Congress.
