Donald Trump fought the release of the Epstein files for as long as he could before eventually bowing to pressure from his own supporters to reveal all.
What embarrassments could he be hiding?
When the documents finally dropped on Friday evening, they included a photograph of a president in a hot tub wearing nothing but a tight pair of swimming trunks.
But it wasn’t the man currently in the White House.
“Oh my!” posted Karoline Leavitt, Mr Trump’s press secretary, as she shared the photograph of Bill Clinton.
Although early analysis reveals that Mr Trump, once a close friend of the late paedophile, gets a handful of mentions in the files, it is Mr Clinton who emerges as one of Epstein’s closest associates.
There he is in a swimming pool with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. There is a second woman with them, but her face is blacked out.
In other photographs, he poses in a red hoodie with a clenched fist beside another woman with her face obscured.
He visits Winston Churchill’s War Rooms with Maxwell and actor Kevin Spacey.
He sits at dinner with Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stone, and poses with Epstein, both men dressed in loud silk shirts.
And there he is, one arm around Michael Jackson, the king of pop, and Diana Ross on his other side.
White House aides revived an old nickname, originally coined for Mr Clinton’s polished but slippery style.
“Slick Willy!” posted Steven Cheung, director of communications, alongside the hot tub picture. “@BillClinton just chillin, without a care in the world. Little did he know…”
In contrast, Mr Trump is notable almost for his absence. He appears tangentially: a name on a giant cheque and an image of one of his books (Trump: The Art of the Comeback) on a bookshelf.
Mr Trump was once a neighbour of Epstein’s in Palm Beach, and they moved in the same moneyed circles in New York before falling out 20 years ago. The president has never been accused of any wrongdoing in the cases against Epstein and maintains that he never knew about Epstein’s crimes.
Yet the Epstein files and their secrets have loomed over the president all year. During the campaign he promised to release all the documents as conspiracy-minded allies claimed that they hid details of a powerful circle of abusers who had been protected by the authorities.
But once in office he tried to brush off the whole affair.
He has flashed irritation at reporters’ questions about his relationship with Epstein. And on Friday, hours before publication of the files, he ended a White House event on drug prices by saying “this is such a big announcement … I really don’t want to soil it up” by taking questions, “even questions that are very fair questions that I’d love to answer”.
Mr Trump rarely misses a chance to joust with reporters, suggesting rare presidential nerves on what might come out of the files.
He need not have worried.
It was his department of justice after all that was in charge of the release, and it quickly emerged that only a fraction of the files were being published. Officials will continue to scrutinise documents in order to redact details of victims, and the releases are likely to continue for weeks more.
It means the delivery can be carefully managed.
On Friday, the strategy was clear. The White House “flooded the zone” with news.
Mr Trump announced plans to slash drug prices for the government’s Medicaid programme and for cash payers.
A sign went up at the Kennedy Center, Washington’s premier arts venue, renaming it The Donald J Trump and The John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, infuriating liberal opponents of the president.
And an hour-and-a-half after the Epstein dump, Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, announced strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria after three Americans were killed last week.
Meanwhile, it was Mr Clinton who appeared in all the headlines.
Even the White House chief of staff gave the game away with indiscreet comments in an interview with Vanity Fair.
Although the president has for years claimed that Mr Clinton visited Epstein’s private island, Susie Wiles said “there is no evidence” of that.
Is there any incriminating evidence against Mr Clinton in the files? No.
“The president was wrong about that,” she said.
Incriminating? No.
Embarrassing? Yes.
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