The second batch of documents linked to the case against late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein made public on Thursday contained a shocking claim involving former US President Bill Clinton.
The claim, made in an email written by Virginia Giuffre - Epstein's first public accuser - in 2011 - reveals that Clinton had allegedly 'threatened' lifestyle magazine Vanity Fair to not publish sex-trafficking articles regarding his 'good freind' Epstein.
A spokesperson for the magazine’s former editor Graydon Carter clarified to The Daily Telegraph that the incident “categorically did not happen”.
As per The Independent, this allegation comes from a May 2011 email sent to journalist Sharon Churcher, then working for The Mail on Sunday, where Giuffre was discussing the best way to publicise her accusations.
“When I was doing some research into VF yesterday, it does concern me what they could want to write about me considering that B Clinton walked into VF and threatened them not to write sex-trafficking articles about his good friend JE,” Giuffre wrote.
A New Yorker report contained claims of some former Vanity Fair journalists who stated that Epstein himself exerted pressure on Carter not to investigate his misdeeds. However, Carter has denied this too.
Even as Clinton has acknowledged his connection to Epstein, the former US president has previously denied that he had any knowledge of Epstein's crimes.
The first set of documents that were unsealed on Wednesday consisted the names of former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump as well as a member of the British royal family, Prince Andrew, among others.
The majority of the documents that were released do not contain detailed instances of misconduct by any individuals other than Epstein. Epstein, who was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, was discovered dead at 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide.
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