A Convenient Death by Alana Goodman & Daniel Halper

Author:Alana Goodman & Daniel Halper [Goodman, Alana & Halper, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

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Although the closeness of various politicos and Epstein remains something of a mystery to this day—Bill Richardson, for instance, is not keen to divulge the details of his Epstein relationship—one thing was always central in nearly all of Epstein’s relationships: money. Epstein had it; the politicians wanted it.

But what the politicians could offer was legitimacy. Public statements of praise from a well-respected politician can help private-sector businessmen ingratiate themselves with clients or other well-heeled moneymen throughout the world.

Which is perhaps why Bill Clinton offered his own public praise for his then friend—after going on a free trip to Africa in the early 2000s. “Jeffrey is both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science. I especially appreciated his insights and generosity during the recent trip to Africa to work on democratization, empowering the poor, citizen service, and combating HIV/AIDS,” Clinton would tell New York magazine.10

But the secret was, Epstein did not actually like Clinton. Nor did Clinton like Epstein. There were signs of tension from their first trip to Europe in 2002. Epstein’s pilot David Rodgers said the flight crew had barely checked into the hotel when he “got word from Secret Service that President Clinton wanted to leave that night.”

“When we went there we thought we were going to be there for likely probably at least a couple of nights. But it didn’t turn out—we didn’t even spend one night there,” Rodgers said in a videotaped deposition.

It’s unclear why Clinton felt such an urgency to leave London. Epstein continued to take the former president on other overseas plane trips, but Clinton’s personality soon started to grate on him.

Upon returning from the trip to Africa, Epstein further confided in one good friend, “Boy, that was a mistake.”

“Why?” asked the friend.

“I don’t like the guy,” Epstein told him at the time.

Epstein claimed he did not like Clinton because he did not think he was a good person, the friend recounted. “He just didn’t respect him; he was all over how horrible of a person he was,” the friend recalled in an interview.

But in truth the verdict might have been more mixed. “If you were a boxer at the downtown gymnasium at 14th Street and Mike Tyson walked in, your face would have the same look as these foreign leaders had when Clinton entered the room. He is the world’s greatest politician,” he reportedly told another friend.11

Despite Epstein’s apparent mixed views of Clinton, the relationship continued after the Africa sojourn. Epstein seemed to have the president’s ear whenever he wanted it, according to confidants.

Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard professor and criminal defense attorney, vividly remembers a summer dinner at Caroline Kennedy’s Martha’s Vineyard home in the late 1990s with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

“Before dinner we were standing around having cocktails. A Secret Service agent came over to President Clinton and gave him the phone and said someone wants to talk to you,” Dershowitz recalled in an interview.

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