According to a New York Times bestselling author and investigative journalist, Ghislaine Maxwell, an accused child sex trafficker who was the associate of sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, used former President Bill Clinton to “escape” from Epstein.
Vicky Ward stated that Clinton made a trip on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet, the “Lolita Express,” in February 2005 and on a trip with Epstein’s reported Madam Ghislaine Maxwell as a passenger in November 2003; both of those trips had been previously undisclosed. Ward added that on the India trip, Maxwell was part of the official Clinton party, and they stayed at the same hotel.
Vicky Ward, speaking on her podcast “’Chasing Ghislaine,” stated that Maxwell wanted to “escape” from Epstein in the 2000s and thus used Clinton to do so. Ward said, according to the Daily Mail:
Ghislaine used former President Bill Clinton for her escape. Remember, Clinton’s post-presidency was an exciting, very attractive place to be. He and an entourage went on fascinating trips to Europe, to Asia, to Africa and he met with extremely interesting people. Now, records I’ve seen recently show that in 2003, Ghislaine visited the Taj Mahal with Bill Clinton and a group of around 20 others. This trip has not previously been reported. Jeffrey wasn’t on it. And that was key in cementing Ghislaine’s rise as a VIP in her own right in Clinton World, according to sources close to Bill Clinton.
British journalist Christopher Mason told Ward, “She was always, you know, on her way to something, to see someone of extraordinary importance. She was very excited by what she was about to do. And she told me that she was off to see Bill Clinton, and that — that seemed to be a leitmotif in her conversation for quite a long time.”
Ward continued. “I’ve also only recently learned from sources close to Bill Clinton that he and his post-presidency staff considered Ghislaine to be just as important as Jeffrey — if not more so. She was the go-to person for ‘financial asks’ for Jeffrey’s money by the Clinton Foundation and then the Global Initiative. … This meant that Ghislaine was constantly being asked to Clinton VIP gatherings.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2020, a former close aide to Bill Clinton, Doug Band, claimed he had tried to get Clinton to break ties with Epstein as early as 2002. Vanity Fair reported:
A Clinton family spokesperson said Chelsea was on friendly terms with Maxwell because of a mutual friend (Gateway computer founder Ted Waitt) and only took one yacht trip with Maxwell in 2009: “It wasn’t until 2015 that Chelsea became aware of the horrific allegations against Ghislaine Maxwell and she hopes that all the victims find justice. Chelsea was friendly with her because of Maxwell’s relationship with a dear friend. When that relationship ended, Chelsea’s relationship with her ended as well.”
In late October 2011, Band instructed Bill Clinton’s office to bar Maxwell from all Clintonworld events as a way of driving a wedge between Maxwell and Chelsea. “I knew in telling everyone to stop including Ghislaine that Chelsea and her father would be very angry. It made it harder for them to justify being close to her,” Band said.