Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listens as former President Bill Clinton speaks during the annual Clinton Global Initiative conference at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois on Oct. 16, 2018. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
Bill Clinton dined with financier Jeffrey Epstein in 1995 while he was president, according to a report at the time.
The report places the pair together years before Clinton acknowledged flying on Epstein’s infamous plane multiple times.
The Palm Beach Post said in a March 31, 1995, story that Clinton attended a dinner at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of Revlon tycoon Ron Perelman.
“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,” the Post reported.
L: Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in a file booking photo. (Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office ) R: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks at a news conference in New York City on April 11, 2005. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
It named Epstein, describing him as “a business executive,” as among the guests, along with singer Jimmy Buffett, actor Don Johnson, and Don Fowler, co-chairman of the committee at the time.
Clinton, a Democrat, was in office from Jan. 20, 1993 through Jan. 20, 2001.
Federal election records showed that Epstein donated to Clinton while he was president.
According to the Center for Responsible Politics, Epstein donated more than $139,000 to Democratic federal candidates and committees from 1989 up until 2003, including Clinton. It wasn’t clear exactly how much he donated to Clinton.
After Epstein was arrested on July 6 and charged two days later with sex trafficking, Clinton’s press secretary released a statement outlining Clinton’s trips with Epstein.
Jeffrey Epstein's mansion in the Manhattan borough of New York City on July 8, 2019. Prosecutors said they found nude photographs of underage girls in the mansion on July 6, 2019. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)
The damaged front door of Jeffrey Epstein's Upper East Side mansion in New York City on July 8, 2019. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)
“President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York,” the statement from Angel Ureña read.
Clinton’s team claimed he only took four trips on the plane.
“In 2002 and 2003, President Clinton took a total of four trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane: One to Europe, one to Asia, and two to Africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation,” the statement continued.
“Staff, supporters of the Foundation, and his Secret Service detail traveled on every leg of every trip. He had one meeting with Epstein in his Harlem office in 2002, and around the same time made one brief visit to Epstein’s New York apartment with a staff member and his security detail.”
Clinton never went to Epstein’s island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, his house in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida, Ureña said.
A protest group called "Hot Mess" hold up signs of Jeffrey Epstein in front of the Federal courthouse in the Manhattan borough of New York City on July 8, 2019. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Investigative journalist and executive director of Alliance to Rescue Victims of Trafficking, Conchita Sarnoff, who has been covering Epstein’s case for over a decade said that Clinton was “not telling the truth.”
“I know from the pilot logs, and these are pilot logs that you know were written by different pilots and at different times, that Clinton went—he was a guest of Epstein’s—27 times,” she told Fox News, adding that “many of those times Clinton had his Secret Service with him and many times he did not.”
She also said that “almost every time that Clinton’s name is on the pilot logs, there are underage girls.”
One of the girls who accused Epstein of molesting them said that Clinton traveled to Epstein’s island in the Caribbean.
