Remember me
The Epstein files are painfully familiar territory for Hillary Clinton when it comes to navigating the fallout from her husband's past.
As Bill Clinton once again finds himself in an uncomfortable photographs with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, Hillary's apparent response has been neither panic nor public loyalty, but something colder.
Detachment, a source has told the Daily Mail.
An insider close to the former first lady says she has watched the latest storm break with indifference, having long ago decided that her scandal-hit husband has to deal with the repercussions on his own.
The source familiar with the Clintons told the Daily Mail that Hillary, 78, has no intention of defending 79-year-old Bill or stepping in to soften the blow.
'She's fine. She's used to this,' the source said. 'At this point, she sees it as a Bill problem, not a Hillary problem.'
The weekend release of more than 300,000 pages of material connected to Epstein has dragged the Clintons back into the spotlight.
The Department of Justice published the first tranche of documents and images on Friday under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which allowed only the names of victims and minors to be redacted.
In one image, Bill Clinton stands next to Jeffrey Epstein
In another photo, Bill can be seen in a pool with a woman whose face has been redacted
The source familiar with the Clintons told the Daily Mail that Hillary has no intention of defending Bill or stepping in to soften the blow
The result was a chaotic data dump filled with photographs, without any context, that prominently featured Clinton, alongside celebrities including Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross and actor Kevin Spacey.
Clinton appeared in at least a dozen images, making him one of the most recognizable figures in the release.
While the files do not accuse him of wrongdoing and he has repeatedly denied any illegal activity connected to Epstein, the optics were brutal – particularly for Democrats who had hoped Donald Trump would dominate the material instead.
One of the most talked-about photographs shows Clinton in a swimming pool with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, surrounded by several women whose faces have been redacted.
Other images show him lounging in a hot tub, swimming with women, and smiling broadly in close proximity to Epstein himself.
There are also photos of Clinton posing with Jackson, Jagger and Ross, attending private dinners and appearing inside Winston Churchill's War Rooms in London.
The files revived one of Clinton's most bizarre and notorious Epstein-era associations: a now-infamous portrait that once hung in Epstein's home, depicting Clinton reclining in a white chair wearing a blue dress and red high heels, pointing directly at the viewer.
Yet while Bill Clinton's camp moved swiftly to push back, Hillary Clinton was silent.
According to the source, that silence is deliberate.
'She doesn't know what he did with Epstein,' the insider said bluntly. 'And whatever comes out now, that's on him.'
Friends say Hillary made the decision years ago to mentally and emotionally separate herself from her husband's controversies. The Clintons, they claim, stopped talking about Epstein long ago.
'I don't even think they're talking about it now,' the source added. 'They stopped talking about these things years ago. There's no point.'
One of the most talked-about photographs shows Clinton in a swimming pool with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, surrounded by several women whose faces have been redacted
One image shows Bill posing with a woman whose face has been redacted
In one photo, Bill poses with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross
Publicly, the response has been left to Bill's team. His former chief of staff Angel Urena issued a fiery statement accusing the Department of Justice and the White House of making the former president the scapegoat - while deflecting from Donald Trump.
President Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in relation to his links to Epstein.
'The White House hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton,' Urena said in a statement posted to X. '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,' he added. 'Never has, never will be.'
Urena argued that Clinton cut ties with Epstein as soon as his behavior became questionable.
'There are two types of people here,' the statement continued. 'The first 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.'
The remarks appeared aimed squarely at Trump, who appears only fleetingly in the Epstein files. Trump has previously claimed Clinton visited Epstein's private island 'supposedly 28 times' – an allegation Clinton has denied.
Behind the scenes, insiders say Bill Clinton has already handed the matter to his lawyers.
'He has his lawyers looking over everything now,' the source said. 'Deciding what it all means. That's again on him. Not on her.'
For Hillary Clinton, the political crossfire appears irrelevant. Friends say decades of scandal – from the Lewinsky affair to conspiracy theories and repeated public humiliations – have hardened her response.
This, they insist, is not a crisis to be managed or explained away. It is something she considers long divorced from her own identity.
'She's trying to live her life,' the source said. 'Whatever this turns into, it belongs to him.'
As the Epstein files continue to be dissected, debated and weaponized, those close to Hillary Clinton say one thing is clear: she has no intention of standing between her husband and the consequences of his past.
The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for the Clintons for comment.