Yet another odd connection between former President Bill Clinton and accused human trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has been revealed. According to a report by The Daily Beast, Clinton and Maxwell got together for a private dinner as recently as 2014, for purposes that are still unclear. Sources said that at the time, Clinton’s staff was aware of the allegations against Epstein and was uncomfortable about the meeting.
The dinner took place at a trendy restaurant in Los Angeles, California in February of 2014, immediately after “a star-studded gala” event of some kind. Clinton reportedly joined a small party for a private meal: producer, investor and Democratic donor Steve Bing; two of Clinton’s staffers at the time, who have both gone on to big titles since; and Maxwell, accompanied by her rumored husband, tech CEO Scott Borgerson. Sources familiar with the meeting said that Clinton’s aides bickered about it beforehand, noting that Maxwell’s connection to Epstein could be a bad look for him.
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“This is an intimate dinner with Clinton in L.A.,” one source said, trying to convey the strangeness and tension of the meeting. “Think of all the people he knows in L.A., and Ghislaine gets to attend.”
Insiders noted that Maxwell had been intentionally “cut out of the president’s network in 2011,” though Clinton traveled extensively with Maxwell and Epstein nearly a decade beforehand. One source said that Maxwell and Clinton were more friendly than he lets on, and that his daughter Chelsea Clinton was close with Maxwell too. They implied that the Clinton family should just come clean about their association with Maxwell โ especially if they have nothing to hide.
“It’s always someone else’s fault, it’s always not true,” they said. “They’re always fighting against the reporting and not that they did it. That’s the problem.”
Today, little more is known about that odd 2014 dinner โ the two former Clinton staffers who were reportedly in attendance told The Daily Beast that they had no recollection of the night, and a Clinton spokesperson only reiterated Clinton’s 2019 statement on Epstein and Maxwell. Contemporary reports and photos from the gala event confirm that Clinton was in attendance, and suggest that actor Sean Penn might have joined the dinner party as well. The next morning, Clinton flew to New York, while Maxwell remained in California. There is no evidence of subsequent meetings between Clinton and Maxwell.
Maxwell is currently being held without bail in New York City, awaiting trial for perjury and her alleged part in Epstein’s child molestation and human trafficking ring. The sources close to Clinton pointed to a 2011 report by The Daily Mail about Epstein, claiming that the former president was well aware of the dangers in associating with Maxwell by 2014. Maxwell’s trial is set for July of 2021.