By STEVEN SLOAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton featured prominently in the first batch of files released Friday by the Justice Department stemming from its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the White House sought to move the focus of the highly anticipated documents from President Donald Trump.
There were several photos of Clinton among the thousands of documents made public. Some showed him on a private plane, including one with a woman whose face was redacted from the photo sitting on his lap. Another photo shows him in a pool with Epstein’s longtime confidant, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, and a person whose face was also redacted.
Another photo shows Clinton in a hot tub with a woman whose face was redacted. The files do not say when the photos were taken and there was little context surrounding them.
Clinton’s association with Epstein and Maxwell in the late 1990s and early 2000s is well documented and the images released on Friday are just a slice of the “several hundred thousand” documents Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has said are tied to the investigation. Yet the images could complicate Democratic efforts to keep Trump tied to the Epstein files, an issue that has had strong resonance with Trump’s base despite the president’s efforts to encourage his supporters to move on.
After the photos were released, several White House officials, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt and top aide Steven Cheung, made social media posts highlighting them. Trump didn’t talk about the issue as he left the White House late Friday on his way to deliver a speech in North Carolina.
In a statement, Clinton spokesman Angel Ureña said the Epstein investigation “isn’t about Bill Clinton.”
“There are two types of people here,” he said. “The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships after that. We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.”
Clinton has never been accused of misconduct by Epstein’s known victims.
Long before the Department of Justice’s release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein included several photos of Clinton, Republicans had zeroed in on the former president and his association with the wealthy financier.
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee had subpoenaed both Bill and Hillary Clinton for depositions earlier this year, but received a response that the Clintons wanted to provide a written statement of what “little information” they had on Epstein.
The Republican chair of the committee, Rep. James Comer, has demanded they appear for in-person testimonies and threatened to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings if they don’t.
Multiple former presidents have voluntarily testified before Congress, but none has been compelled to do so.
When Clinton was president, Epstein visited the White House multiple times, visitor logs show. After he left office, Epstein assisted with some of the former president’s philanthropy. Clinton flew multiple times on Epstein’s private jet, including on a humanitarian trip to Africa with actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker in 2002.
Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report