Among the sea of ​​redactions, pictures of Bill Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein in a swimming pool with Ghislaine Maxwell appear

Among the thousands of declassified documents were several photographs of Clinton. Some showed him on a private jet, including with a woman whose face has been edited sitting by his side with her arm around him. In another photo, she is in a swimming pool with Epstein’s long-time confidant, a British companion Ghislaine Maxwelland a person whose face was also edited.

Another photo shows Clinton in a hot tub with a woman whose face was cut. The files do not say when or where the photos were taken, and there is little context surrounding them.

The 79-year-old Clinton’s political career has been plagued by personal scandals in the past and her impeachment in 1998. Her contacts with Epstein and Maxwell in the late 1990s and early 2000s are well-documented, and the images released Friday are just one slice of « several hundreds of thousands » of investigations.

But the images depict uncomfortable relationships and associations that complicate both Democrats’ efforts to focus on Trump and the current president’s desire to move on entirely.

After the photos were released, several White House officials, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt and top aide Steven Cheung, made posts highlighting them on social media. Trump did not address the issue as he left the White House late Friday for a speech in North Carolina.

Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and just putting someone’s name or pictures in the investigation files doesn’t mean anything else. Clinton spokesman Angel Ureña said in a statement that the White House is « protecting itself from what comes next, or what they try to hide forever. »

« They can post as many photos of the rake that are over 20 years old as they want, but this is not about Bill Clinton, » Ureña said. « Never was, never will be. »

Republicans have zeroed in on Clinton

Long before Friday’s photos, Republicans had focused on the former president and his connection to Epstein.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee had interviewed both Bill and Hillary Clinton for testimony earlier this year, but were told the Clintons wanted to give a written statement about what « little information » they had about Epstein.

The committee’s Republican chairman, Rep. James Comer, has demanded they come forward to testify about personal accounts and threatened to start a contempt of Congress proceeding if they don’t.

Several former presidents have voluntarily testified before Congress, but none have been forced to do so.

While Clinton was president, Epstein visited the White House several times, visitor logs show. After he left office, Epstein assisted with some of the former president’s philanthropy. Clinton flew on Epstein’s private plane several times, including on a humanitarian trip to Africa with actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker in 2002.

Clinton first ran for president in 1992 as a New Democrat from the South with an appeal that connected her party’s base with moderate voters. He became the first Democrat in 16 years to win the White House and remains one of the most prominent figures in his party. He had a prime-time speaking slot during last summer’s Democratic convention, where he made a strong case for the candidacy of Kamala Harris.

But Clinton’s ties to the Epstein case are a reminder of how her political promise has always been tempered by personal indiscretions.

His 1992 campaign was marred by rumors of an affair with Gennifer Flowers, which he denied at the time. His presidency was rocked when he was impeached in 1998 for lying under oath and obstruction of justice when he denied having sex with Monica Lewinsky. He eventually admitted his relationship with Lewinsky « wasn’t appropriate, » insisting that « even presidents have private lives. »

Trump, whose 2016 campaign was nearly derailed when a tape surfaced of him bragging about grabbing women’s genitals, has often dismissed accusations of sexual misconduct by pointing to Clinton’s behavior. But even Trump’s key allies have questioned those claims. In an interview published by Vanity Fair this week, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said Trump « was wrong » to frequently suggest that the Epstein files contained incriminating information about Clinton.

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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Gary Fields in Washington contributed to this report.