When accused sex trafficker and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unexpectedly arrested over the weekend, it wasn’t long before former President Bill Clinton released a statement attempting to distance himself from the disreputable financier by suggesting their past associations had been limited.
But new information — actually, an old local news report — has undercut the former president’s statement, revealing that Clinton and Epstein actually met years prior to when Clinton first admits he established a relationship with Epstein, The Daily Wire reports.
Ties to a criminal?
Following Epstein’s arrest on Saturday, a spokesperson for Clinton released a statement asserting that the former president “knows nothing about the terrible crimes” that Epstein has been charged with, nor those he was convicted of years ago in Florida.
The statement, which was released on Monday, further claimed that Clinton had only flown out of the country on Epstein’s private jet four times, in 2002 and 2003, and had only met with Epstein here in America on two occasions in New York City.
Statement on Jeffrey Epstein. pic.twitter.com/98ha9YYd1l
— Angel Ureña (@angelurena) July 8, 2019
That statement from Clinton already seemed suspicious in light of flight logs for Epstein’s private jet uncovered years ago that showed Clinton had flown with Epstein upwards of 26 times — but now, even more information has been uncovered that contradicts Clinton’s assertion.
Fox News uncovered a 1995 article by the Palm Beach Post, which reported on a “three-hour dinner” in the home of a wealthy Florida businessman involving then-President Clinton, Epstein, and other high-profile guests.
That report stated: “Joining Clinton for a three-hour dinner was a very select group of people, some of whom, according to one Democratic Party source, gave as much as $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee for the privilege of dining with the president.”
This event took place seven years before Clinton says he first met Epstein. What gives?
More questions remain
For his part, Epstein stands accused of creating and maintaining a “vast network” of young women and underage girls engaged in sex work in Florida, New Mexico, New York, and a private island in the Carribean that the wealthy financier owned, according to Fox.
Those women and girls were alleged to have been sexually exploited by Epstein and other unnamed “co-conspirators” for several years, especially in the early 2000s.
There have long been rumors of Clinton having a close association with Epstein during that same time frame, rumors his prepared statement attempted to quell. However, given the new report of the 1995 meeting that fell outside of Clinton’s timeline, the question remains: Are there any other heretofore unknown — or yet to be admitted — meetings between Clinton and Epstein that will soon come to public light?
Only time will tell.