Bill Clinton is facing renewed questions about the extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after it came to light in a tranche of unsealed documents.
Dozens of photos of the former president with the late pedophile have been released by the Trump administration, including some showing him in a hot tub and swimming with Ghislaine Maxwell.
The images are part of the so-called Epstein files that Congress ordered released by December 19 as public pressure on Donald Trump mounted.
The US Department of Justice said “hundreds of thousands” of documents would be released in the coming weeks, suggesting some of the most damaging to the White House could be released by Christmas.
Democrats accused the Trump administration of censoring the release to protect the US president.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor also appeared in early documents, including a photo of him lying in black tie on the lap of five women, below.
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor also appeared in early documents, including a photograph of him lying in black tie on the lap of five women, below.
Clinton criticized the White House’s handling of the dossier and accused the Trump administration of “protecting itself from what’s coming.”
Angel Ureña, his spokesman, told X that the latest revelation “is not about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be.”
Mr. Ureña wrote:
Meanwhile, Karoline Leavitt, Mr Trump’s press secretary, shared a picture of Mr Clinton relaxing in the hot tub with the comment: ‘Oh!
The Clinton hot tub photo showed the former president lying half-naked with a woman whose face was redacted.
Gates McGavick, a Justice Department employee, claimed the woman whose face was blocked was a victim of Epstein.
Another photo, below, which appeared to be taken on the same occasion, also showed Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking teenage girls to Epstein, in a dimly lit swimming pool with Mr Clinton.
Dozens of photos of Mr Clinton with Epstein have been released by the Trump administration, including one showing him topless in a hot tub and swimming with Ghislaine Maxwell.
The former president was also photographed with his arm around a young blonde sitting on his lap in a red velvet chair. The woman is one of many in the Epstein files whose face has been redacted.
Clinton is pictured with his arm around a woman in another image from the Epstein release
A similar image showed Mr. Clinton in a red hooded sweatshirt with his arm around a blonde woman.
The furniture in the background appeared to match that of Epstein’s private jet, nicknamed the “Lolita Express” because of allegations that the businessman used it to traffic underage girls to his island in the US Virgin Islands.
Bill Clinton in a red hoodie with his arm around a woman
Other images released on Friday showed the 42nd president and Epstein pictured side by side with their arms around each other in two-patterned shirts at a dinner, below, as well as one of Mr Clinton with Michael Jackson.
Clinton and Epstein wear shirts with similar patterns
Clinton with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross
The batch of images also included a framed caricature of Mr Clinton and Mr Epstein preparing to board a plane alongside two unidentified men. The drawing was hung in a bathroom, believed to belong to Epstein.
Trump sought to draw attention to Epstein’s relationship with Clinton as scrutiny intensified over his own ties to the pedophile.
Susie Wiles, Mr Trump’s chief of staff, said in an interview with Vanity Fair this week that her boss was “on the record” but that he was “not on the record doing anything terrible”.
Clinton with Mick Jagger
White House officials, meanwhile, have mocked Mr. Clinton over images released of him with Epstein and various women.
Steven Cheung, White House communications director, commented on one image: “Slick Willy! Bill Clinton is just chillin’ without a care in the world. Little did he know…”
Clinton’s spokesman has repeatedly said the former president was unaware of Epstein’s crimes. He was never accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The new filings show that Epstein also kept a cartoon of himself and Mr. Clinton above what appears to be his toilet.
The photo shows a framed drawing of a muscular Epstein with the former president outside a private jet.
Jeffrey Epstein also kept a cartoon of himself and Bill Clinton above his toilet, new files show
The politician was previously photographed with Epstein several times in the early 1990s.
He and Maxwell were photographed speaking with the then-president in September 1993 at an event for donors to a White House restoration project.
Epstein made two $1,000 donations to Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.
Through a spokesman, Clinton described Epstein in 2002 as “both a highly successful financier and a dedicated philanthropist.”
In one image, Clinton was seen with her hands on actor Kevin Spacey’s shoulders
A photo of Epstein and Mr. Clinton together in Brunei in 2002 appeared in Vanity Fair while he was traveling on the sex offender’s private jet.
Clinton’s spokesman said after Epstein’s sex-trafficking arrest in 2019 that the former president took four trips by plane between 2002 and 2003, including “stops related to Clinton Foundation work” in Africa.
The 2019 statement confirmed that the two men met at Epstein’s office in Harlem and his apartment in New York. Mr Clinton is also believed to have contributed to Epstein’s 50th birthday book in 2003.
In her 2024 memoir, Clinton said she “knew nothing” about Epstein’s crimes and wished she had “never met him.”
“I always thought Epstein was strange, but I had no idea about the crimes he was committing,” he wrote. “He hurt a lot of people but I didn’t know anything about it and when he was first arrested in 2005 I cut off contact with him.”
Mr. Clinton added: “The bottom line is that even though it allowed me to visit the works of my foundation, Epstein’s plane ride was not worth the years of questions afterward. I wish I had never met him.”
A picture of Lord Mandelson with Epstein also appears in the files.
Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein celebrate a birthday at Epstein’s apartment in Paris in January 2007
Filmed in 2007, it shows the pair celebrating Epstein’s 54th birthday at his home in Paris. The image first appeared in 2022.
The Labor peer was sacked as Britain’s ambassador to the United States in September after emails emerged from 2008 in which he urged Epstein to fight for early release after being convicted of child prostitution.
The files also reveal a complaint made to the FBI in 1996 by one of Epstein’s former employees, accusing the financier of child pornography offenses.
Maria Farmer, who was hired by the pedophile to acquire art for him, said in the September 3, 1996 filing that Epstein stole photos of her sisters, ages 12 and 16, which he took for “personal artwork.”
“Epstein asked at one point [redacted] to photograph young girls at swimming pools,” the complaint states. “Epstein is now making threats [redacted] that if she tells anyone about the photos, he will burn her house down.”
The document removes her name, but Ms. Farmer told the New York Times it was her report, saying it “vindicated” her claims.
Brad Edwards, a lawyer representing a number of Epstein’s victims, said the existence of the complaint had not previously been publicly acknowledged by the US government.
Ms. Farmer previously said the FBI never responded to her complaint and only contacted her about it in 2008, when Epstein was jailed for soliciting sex between minors.
“They should be ashamed,” she said, adding: “I’ve waited 30 years. I can’t believe it. I can’t call myself a liar anymore.”
Clinton quoted
James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has subpoenaed both Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify in person about the Epstein committee’s investigation.
The committee is giving the former president and former secretary of state new filing dates in January and threatening possible contempt proceedings if they don’t comply.
The Clintons were first subpoenaed in August and have been embroiled in a legal battle over whether they must appear in person.
On Friday night, Democrats demanded answers from the Justice Department about why so many redactions were made in the documents.
Ro Khanna, the congressman behind the Epstein Files Transparency Act, said the original files protected the identity of “rich and powerful men” complicit in the pedophile’s activities.
Mr Khanna claimed Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, could be prosecuted or indicted after “months of obfuscation”.
A document from a New York grand jury is 119 pages “completely redacted” with no explanation for the redactions required by law, even though a federal judge agreed to release it, he said.
Fox News reported that the same redaction standards were applied to politically exposed individuals and government officials as to victims.