General Discussion

The files do not implicate Clinton in any wrongdoing; he has not been accused of misconduct by Epstein's victims who have come forward so far, and there is no proof he knew of his crimes. Clinton's spokesperson has said the photos are decades old and Clinton had stopped associating with Epstein before his crimes came to light.

But the new material does apparently indicate how Clinton's world collided with Epstein's in the early 2000s, when Clinton was redefining himself as an ex-president on a philanthropic mission. He was in the market for wealthy donors to the Clinton Foundation and later to the Clinton Global Initiative, a gathering of leaders devoted to addressing world problems.

At the time, Epstein was a money manager and jet-setting financier who, with his girlfriend Maxwell, was hobnobbing with the world's wealthiest from Buckingham Palace to Palm Beach and collecting powerful friends along the way.

There are no direct messages between Clinton and Epstein in emails reviewed by the BBC, but the two men are the subject of much correspondence between Maxwell and Clinton's top aide, Doug Band.