Before the current 950 pages of documents regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s court proceedings were unsealed, we already knew that former President Bill Clinton had dealings with the disgraced financier. As the BBC outlines, Clinton used Epstein’s private jet to travel and make trips to the African continent in the early days of the Clinton Foundation following the end of Clinton’s presidential term. The Clinton Foundation website says that the organization launched its very first initiative in 2002 to help African and Caribbean countries develop treatment plans for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. As the National Review reports, Clinton used Epstein’s plane 26 times in total.  

That’s all well and good, but folks may ask: “Okay, but why use Epstein’s plane?” We’re not sure. That plane, by the way, was dubbed the “Lolita Express” by media outlets — in reference to author Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial 1955 novel containing pedophilia. The Cut explains that Epstein not only used it to fly prominent people around, but also used it for his alleged illicit sexual activities. 

Such information takes on an unsavory light given Bill Clinton’s well-known sexual history with his former intern, Monica Lewinsky, who was more than half his age at the time of their relationship. While the BBC points out that there’s no evidence that Clinton engaged in any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s activities, new information in the unsealed documents indicates that the accused sex trafficker knew about Clinton’s proclivities. Notably, one of Epstein’s victims, Johanna Sjöberg, cited Epstein telling her that “‘Clinton likes them young,’ referring to girls.”

[Featured image by Ralph Alswang, White House photographer via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled]