WASHINGTON (TNND) — The first tranche of documents released by the Justice Department from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein prominently featured former President Bill Clinton that has renewed scrutiny of the personal scandals that marred his career and led to his impeachment.
Several photos of Clinton were released in the thousands of documents made public on Friday showing him with Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a prison sentence for aiding Epstein in his crimes.
Photos showed Clinton on a private plane, one with a woman whose face was redacted with her arm around him. Another shows him in a pool with Maxwell and another person whose face was redacted. He is also seen in a hot tub with a woman whose face is redacted, and the files do not detail when or where the photos were taken.
Clinton’s association with Epstein was not new information and the documents yielded no new context or details. Epstein visited the White House several times during Clinton’s presidency and he helped with some of his philanthropy missions upon leaving office.
He has never been accused of wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein and being included in the files does not indicate guilt. But the prominence in which he was depicted in the initial batch of files has renewed the spotlight on his past transgressions and accusations made by women against him.
His presidential campaign in 1992 suffered from rumors of an affair with Gennifer Flowers, which he had denied. In 1998, he was impeached for lying to Congress and obstructing justice over his affair with Monica Lewinsky. He has also been accused of groping, exposing himself without consent and rape, all allegations he has denied but that add to a complicated history for the former president.
The White House and other Republicans have pounced on Clinton’s inclusion in the files amid pushback of the DOJ’s failure to release all the files it holds and Trump’s own connections to Epstein. Trump has also not been accused of wrongdoing with Epstein but has faced mounting pressure from a public with tremendous curiosity about the scandal and allegations the government has been hiding details to protect wealthy and politically powerful people.
“Here is Bill Clinton in a hot tub next to someone whose identity has been redacted. Per the Epstein Files Transparency Act, DOJ was specifically instructed only to redact the faces of victims and/or minors. Time for the media to start asking real questions,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said in a post on X.
A spokesperson for Clinton said the release of the documents and the late afternoon timing of it was to deflect attention away from the president.
“What the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection,” Angel Ureña, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, said in a statement.
Republicans had already homed in on the former president in the days ahead of the release with the House Oversight Committee subpoenaing both Bill and Hillary Clinton for depositions in their investigation of the Epstein files. The Clintons have tried to instead issue written statements, an offer that has been rebutted by committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who has threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress if they do not appear for a deposition. No president has ever been compelled to testify before Congress, though several have agreed to do so voluntarily.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who served as a House impeachment manager during Clinton’s impeachment, has reportedly told the Oversight Committee to review unreleased documents from the trial.
“I would encourage him to look [at the files],” Graham told The Washington Times. Comer has expressed interest in opening the files, which are currently being held in the congressional archives.
The outsized attention on Clinton is likely to continue amid the ongoing investigation by the committee and more releases of files. He has said he didn’t know about Epstein’s crimes and stopped associating with him after reports he was being investigated started to surface.
“There are two types of people here,” Ureña said in a Friday statement. “The first group 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. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.”
Democrats have not jumped to defend Clinton and have instead kept focus on the DOJ failing to meet its deadline to release all the files as required by the law. Only a handful have even addressed Clinton’s past issues, and many have simply sought to move on.
“If there are unanswered questions, you know, he should address them and I suspect he will,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said on “Meet the Press.” “But let’s just make sure that we meet the promise that President Trump made as a candidate, that all these files will be released.”