WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton appears prominently in the first batch of files released Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice stemming from its investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the White House tries to keep President Donald Trump from the spotlight in those long-awaited documents.

Among the thousands of documents made public were several photos of Clinton. Some showed him on a private plane, including one with a woman sitting on his lap, whose face is censored. Another photo shows him in a pool with Epstein's longtime confidant, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, and a person whose face was also censored.

Another photo shows Clinton in a hot tub with a woman whose face was censored. The files do not indicate when the photos were taken, and there was little context around them.

Several White House officials, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt and senior adviser Steven Cheung, made social media posts on Friday highlighting the photos.

In a statement, Clinton spokesman Angel Ureña stated that the investigation into Epstein “is not about Bill Clinton.”

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“There are two types of people here,” he said. "The first group knew nothing and cut off relations with Epstein before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relations after that. We are in the first. No amount of stonewalling by people in the second group will change that."

Epstein's known victims have never accused Clinton of illegal conduct.

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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.