Alleged child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is said to have owned an eccentric painting of former President Bill Clinton wearing a dress and heels hanging in his New York City mansion, according to a report.
The Daily Mail, citing an anonymous source who spotted the painting during a business meeting at Epstein’s home, reports Clinton is depicted as wearing a blue dress and red heels, while posing “suggestively” in a chair inside the Oval Office. The Mail states the dress was strongly reminiscent of the blue dress that Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern whom Clinton admitted to having an affair with as president, had previously worn.
The British tabloid further reports:
The painting was secretly snapped inside the pedophile’s lavish $56 million home in October 2012, four years after Epstein completed his sweetheart deal for prostitution of a minor and seven years before he was accused of running a sex trafficking ring of underage girls.
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She told DailyMailTV: ‘It was absolutely Bill Clinton. It was shocking – it was definitely a painting of him. It was a very provocative, sexual picture. He was wearing heels, a blue dress and his hand was in a weird position.’
Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on Saturday morning in an apparent suicide by hanging, enjoyed a relationship with Clinton that went back several years. Clinton previously praised Epstein’s intellect and philanthropic efforts and was a frequent flyer aboard his private jet.
Epstein repeatedly leoaned Clinton his jet to travel overseas. Flight logs obtained by Fox News showed the former president took at least 26 trips aboard Epstein’s Boeing 727, nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” from 2001 to 2003. That “included extended junkets around the world with Epstein and fellow passengers identified on manifests by their initials or first names, including ‘Tatiana,’” the outlet found.
Clinton told New York magazine though a spokesman for that same 2002 story:
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 spokesman Angel Ureña said last month the former president “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.” He said that, in 2002 and 2003, Clinton took four trips on Epstein’s plane with multiple stops and that staff and his Secret Service detail traveled on every leg.
“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,” Ureña added.
Law enforcement received a call at 6:39 a.m. local time that Epstein was in cardiac arrest, and he was later pronounced dead at NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital. According to the New York Post, Epstein was discovered with bedsheet wrapped around his neck that was tied to his bunk bed.
“The convicted pedophile, who was 6 feet tall, apparently killed himself by kneeling toward the floor and strangling himself with the makeshift noose, a law enforcement source said Monday,” the paper said.
The New York Times reported that the guards tasked with watching Epstein fell asleep for three hours, causing them to miss the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s routine prisoner check. Later, they attempted to cover up their mistakes with fabricated supervision logs, which could incur federal charges. On Tuesday, federal authorities removed the prison warden and the pair of guards from their roles. Attorney General William Barr expressed anger with Epstein’s handling and reiterated his pledge to fully investigate his death.
“I was appalled, and indeed, the whole department was, and frankly, angry to learn of the MCC’s failure to adequately secure this prisoner,” said Barr. “We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation. The FBI and the Office of Inspector General are doing just that.”
Epstein was facing charges of sex trafficking that stemmed from activities over a period of three years in the early 2000s. He served a 13-month prison sentence in Florida in 2008 after he was charged with similar offenses and was forced to register as a sex offender. His attorneys unsuccessfully lobbied for bail and house arrest on the new charges, but a federal New York judge declared him a flight risk and a danger to the community.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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