The U.S. Justice Department released the first batch of thousands of heavily redacted documents related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday.
The documents made scant reference to President Donald Trump but extensively featured Democratic former President Bill Clinton, according to U.S. media reports.
Most of the scattered references to Trump, or images of him, were already in the public domain. The documents included photos of Trump and Melania Trump with Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Written references to the president appeared in Epstein's address book and flight logs, as well as in a message book. Trump's name also appears in interviews with Maxwell, whose transcripts had previously been made public by the Justice Department and were rereleased on Friday.
The documents were released a month after Trump signed a bill on November 19 that mandated the release of most of the Justice Department's files on Epstein within 30 days.
According to an Associated Press report, many of the most discussed photos in the files feature Clinton, who has acknowledged traveling on Epstein's private jet but said he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes. Some of the photos show Clinton on a private plane, including one with a woman sitting on his lap. Her face is redacted from the photo, the report said.
One photo shows Clinton in a pool with British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been convicted of luring young girls to Epstein so he could abuse them, along with another person whose face is redacted. Another shows Clinton in a hot tub with a woman whose face is redacted.