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Judging by the amount of fraternising and hobnobbing that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell did in the years following Epstein’s 2008 conviction, for procuring an underage girl for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute, you’d think the judge’s ruling was somehow kept under wraps.

It wasn’t and was public knowledge, yet powerful politicians and royals like Prince Andrew clearly didn’t think that was enough to sever ties.

The latest clandestine meeting involves Maxwell and Bill Clinton, back in 2014, following a gala event in Los Angeles. The Daily Beast was the first to report on it:

…Clinton and his entourage headed to a vegan restaurant in Los Angeles for an intimate dinner with friends.

Their destination was Crossroads Kitchen, a Melrose Avenue hotspot that counts Beyoncé, Christina Applegate, and Katy Perry as fans, and features a menu with artichoke “oysters,” hearts of palm “crab cakes” and tagliatelle “bolognese.”

This was very much an ‘it’ place to be seen, and on the same night, Jerry Bruckheimer, Bruce Willis, and Sean Penn also happened to be dining there.

Back to the post-gala dinner:

…two other unlikely guests joined the party that night: British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell—accused of procuring underage girls for sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein—and tech CEO Scott Borgerson, now rumored to be her husband…

Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation say aides had squabbled over Maxwell’s invitation beforehand due to her links to Epstein. Even to this day, Clinton insiders continue to point fingers over who should be blamed for Maxwell’s addition to the event…

“This is an intimate dinner with Clinton in L.A.,” said one source who was disturbed by the decision. “Think of all the people he knows in L.A., and Ghislaine gets to attend.”

I like to live by a general rule of thumb – if somebody stands accused of procuring underage girls for a notorious sex trafficker, I don’t invite them to intimate dinners.

By this stage, the media had already widely reported on Epstein’s abuse of girls, and the multiple lawsuits filed by victims of his trafficking scheme.

Throw in that a former US president was in attendance, and extending an invite to Maxwell becomes even more daft.

In response to questions about the dinner, Angel Ureña, a spokesman for Clinton, declined to comment, referring instead to a statement Clinton released last year:

“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. 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.

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. He’s not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida.”

He might be able to distance himself from Epstein, but Maxwell was known to work closely with him by that point.

Then again, Clinton is far from the only powerful figure tangled up in this web, although Epstein’s death means we may never know the full extent of what really happened.

You can read the full Daily Beast report here.

[source:dailybeast]