Documents that were party of Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell have finally been released in an unredacted form. They span hundreds of pages and for the first time we can read all of the names in them, some of them very famous.
Hundreds of pages of unsealed documents from a lawsuit connected to accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein were publicly released on Wednesday. The documents are expected to include nearly 200 names, including some of Epstein’s accusers, prominent businesspeople, politicians and potentially more.
While much of the information has been released through other means, such as media interviews, this is the first time these documents, filed with a court, have been released through the legal system.
The documents contain excerpts of depositions taken of Maxwell and Giuffre. There is also a deposition from Johanna Sjoberg, who in the document described Prince Andrew touching her breast in a joking manner while taking photos.
Sjoberg’s story has been public, but this is the first time her deposition has been unsealed. She worked sometimes for Epstein, and she has said that he pressured her to go beyond her comfort level at times in giving sexualized massages.
If you want to read the documents for yourself, check here. I’ve been reading through Sjoberg’s deposition and here’s a bit of what it contains, starting with a mention of David Copperfield coming to Epstein’s house for dinner:
Q. Have you ever met David Copperfield?
A. Yes.
Q. And do you recall when you initially met him?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you tell me what that was?
A. Sure. Someone called me from the house and said that he would be there, and if I wanted to come have dinner, then I could meet him…
Q. And what happened at that dinner, if anything?
A. He did some magic tricks.
Q. Did you observe David Copperfield to be a friend of Jeffrey Epstein’s?
A. Yes.
Q. Did Copperfield ever discuss Jeffrey’s involvement with young girls with you?
A. He questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls.
But this excerpt is the one that seems to be making news:
Q. Was Bill Clinton a friend of Jeffrey Epstein?
MS. MENNINGER: Objection, foundation.
BY MS. McCAWLEY: Q. Let me back up. Do you know if Bill Clinton was a friend of Jeffrey Epstein?
A. I knew he had dealings with Bill Clinton. I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together.
Q. Did Jeffrey ever talk to you about Bill Clinton?
A. He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.
Later, she was asked about Clinton and a whole long list of other celebrities. She said she had never met any of them and that included Bill Clinton:
Q. I saw one press report that said you had met Cate Blanchett or Leonardo DiCaprio?
A. I did not meet them, no. When I spoke about them, it was when I was massaging him, and he would get off — he would be on the phone a lot at that time, and one time he said, Oh, that was Leonardo, or, That was Cate Blanchett, or Bruce Willis. That kind of thing.
Q. So name-dropping?
A. Yes.
Q. So you had not met Cate Blanchett or Leonardo DiCaprio?
A. I have not.
Q. Would you remember if you had?
A. I would hope I would remember.
Q. Did you meet Cameron Diaz?
A. No.
Q. Bill Clinton?
A. No.
Q. Did you see Bill Clinton on the island?
A. No.
Q. Did you see Bill Clinton in a helicopter being flown by Ghislaine Maxwell?
A. No.
Q. Did Ghislaine Maxwell ever tell you that she had flown Bill Clinton in her helicopter?
MS. McCAWLEY: Objection.
THE WITNESS: I don’t recall her saying that.
So this isn’t eyewitness testimony, it’s something that Epstein told her. Was Epstein just name dropping to impress her or was this the truth? Granted we can’t know for certain but there’s no reason it can’t be both. We know for certain that Epstein and Clinton were friendly. There are other reports about that. So there’s no doubt Epstein could have know something about Clinton’s preferences.
My take is that a certain point, Bill Clinton just doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt anymore. That doesn’t mean he’s guilty but it does mean he’s had a long-term pattern of behavior toward women which makes any denials on his part impossible to believe. This is, after all, the guy who took up with a White House intern who was 23-years-old when he was about 50. So it’s not really that hard to believe.
Anyway, I’m sure we’ll have more about this tomorrow. I’m just skimming the surface of this one deposition.