bill clinton
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Clinton has denied repeatedly ever visiting the infamous island.

Doug Band, a longtime counselor and friend to former President Bill Clinton, claimed recently that Clinton did in fact visit deceased convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's infamous private island — an accusation that Clinton has repeatedly denied for decades.

The claim appears in a lengthy Vanity Fair feature story about Band's time working with Clinton, titled, "Confessions of a Clintonworld Exile," written by Gabriel Sherman.

In the article, Band discloses a great deal about Clinton's life and work post-presidency, including details about the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. But perhaps the most relevant bit of information relates to Clinton's supposed visit to Little St. James, Epstein's private 70-acre island in the Caribbean, where it has long been surmised that the accused sex trafficker and his guests would engage in acts of pedophilia.

Here's an excerpt from the article where Sherman outlined Clinton's working relationship with Epstein, according to Band, with the specific accusation in bold:
Band told me he had been trying to push Epstein out of Clinton's orbit ever since their much-discussed 2002 trip to Africa aboard Epstein's private 727, dubbed the "Lolita Express." Band recalled that Epstein had made a bunch of ridiculous claims on the trip, like boasting that he invented the derivatives market. Band said he had no idea about Epstein's sex crimes back then but got enough bad vibes that he advised Clinton to end the relationship. But Clinton continued to socialize with Epstein and take his money. In 2006 Epstein donated $25,000 to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton made more than two dozen trips on Epstein's jet around this time, Epstein's flight logs show. In January 2003, according to Band, Clinton visited Epstein's private Caribbean island, Little St. James. Band said it was one of the few trips he declined to go on in his time with Clinton. A Clinton spokesperson said the president had never been to the island and provided detailed travelogue entries of the period in question that did not contain a visit.
"Wow. Doug Band — Bill Clinton's former right-hand man — says Clinton visited Jeffrey Epstein's private island, which Clinton has repeatedly denied," Business Insider legal reporter Jacob Shamsian tweeted regarding the news.


Band's assertion follows similar accusations found in unsealed court documents involving Epstein and alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, in which witnesses claim that Clinton visited the island accompanied by "young girls."

The information became public after a federal judge ruled in July that the trove of documents from a 2015 defamation cases against Maxwell could be unsealed.

Maxwell, a British socialite closely associated with Epstein, is currently being tried by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of conspiracy, perjury, transporting minors for illegal sex acts, and enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.

In the Vanity Fair article, Sherman noted that Band claimed that Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, had ties to Epstein and Maxwell as well.

"[Band] showed me a photo of Bill and Chelsea posing with Epstein and Maxwell at the King of Morocco's wedding," Sherman wrote. "Chelsea remained friends with Maxwell for years after the press revealed Maxwell was a close associate of Epstein's. For instance, Chelsea invited Maxwell to her 2010 wedding at the Brooke Astor estate in Rhinebeck, New York, after Epstein had pleaded guilty in Florida to procuring sex from a minor."

"'Ghislaine had access to yachts and nice homes. Chelsea needed that,' Band told me," he added.