Jeffrey Epstein’s mysterious death in a Manhattan prison Saturday raised speculation about his ties to rich and powerful figures like former President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump.
Documents that were unsealed a day before the 66-year-old’s death accused several powerful men of having abused an alleged former sex slave of Epstein’s. Among those abusers, according to the Daily Caller, is a Democrat who Bill Clinton wanted to appoint to the Supreme Court: former Sen. George Mitchell (ME).
Mitchell denied any wrongdoing. Former President Clinton has also downplayed his ties to the deceased sex offender, whose untimely death led President Trump to endorse a conspiracy theory that the Clintons were involved.
The horrifying details
In a newly unsealed deposition Friday, Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Epstein’s, named several powerful figures as having abused her when she was a slave in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. They include lawyer Alan Dershowitz, the U.K.’s Prince Andrew, former New Mexico governor and Clinton cabinet official Bill Richardson, and Mitchell — all of whom denied the allegations.
The documents were unsealed in Giuffre’s now-settled defamation case against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and an alleged recruiter of his victims. In a 2016 deposition, Giuffre accused Epstein of having “trafficked” her to a number of men, including Mitchell, who allegedly forced her to have sex with them and give erotic massages.
Giuffre said she was told to “go to” Mitchell, but otherwise did not specify any contact with him. Mitchell denied ever meeting Giuffre.
“I have never met, spoken with or had any contact with Ms. Giuffre,” Mitchell said. “In my contacts with Mr. Epstein, I never observed or suspected any inappropriate conduct with underage girls. I only learned of his actions when they were reported in the media related to his prosecution in Florida. We have had no further contact.”
Mitchell, a former Senate majority leader from Maine, turned down an offer from Clinton to succeed Republican Harry Blackmun on the Supreme Court in 1994 to focus on lobbying for Clinton’s ill-fated health care reform. The seat went to Justice Stephen Breyer, while Mitchell went on to serve as U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland during Clinton’s tenure, and later U.S. special envoy to the Middle East under President Barack Obama.
In a 2003 Vanity Fair article, Mitchell said that Epstein “supported some philanthropic projects of mine and organized a fundraiser for me once. I would certainly call him a friend and a supporter,” he added.
Clinton can’t get away from Epstein
The deposition was unsealed one day before Epstein’s sudden and extremely unusual death in a highly secured Manhattan prison renewed speculation about his ties to the rich and powerful. Democrats blamed President Trump, a former neighbor and associate of Epstein in the Palm Beach, Florida social scene, while Republicans pointed to Clinton, whose own past ties to Epstein have drawn scrutiny.
Giuffre, who has long accused Epstein of having kept her a sex slave when she was an underage girl, claims that Bill Clinton was on Epstein’s infamous private island and his jet, where depraved sex parties are believed to have taken place, according to the Daily Mail. However, she testified that she never saw Clinton having sex with underage girls.
For his part, Clinton published a statement distancing himself from Epstein when the sex offender was arrested in early July on sex trafficking charges. Clinton acknowledged taking four tips on Epstein’s jet, the “Lolita Express,” in the early 2000s, and visiting him at his office and home in New York, but denied visiting Epstein’s island.
But flight logs show that Clinton took more trips on Epstein’s plane than he let on, and Epstein also visited the White House several times when Clinton was president during the 1990s, according to the Daily Beast.
Epstein’s wide connections to the high and mighty — from Hollywood actors, to British royalty, to former presidents and the sitting one — set the stage for conspiracy theories that took flight after his sudden death in jail Saturday. Republicans have accused the Clintons of orchestrating a hit on Epstein with the hashtag #ClintonBodyCount — an accusation that President Trump himself elevated with a retweet, while some Democrats caught a whiff of Russian involvement.
When Epstein was arrested this summer, Christine Pelosi, daughter of Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), suggested that “some of our faves” may be taken down in the Epstein case. While Epstein’s death before trial denied justice to his victims, Fox News reports that Attorney General William Barr has vowed to get to the bottom of his strange death and has said that “any co-conspirators should not rest easy.”
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