Reporter Refutes Claim That Bill Clinton 'Walked into' Vanity Fair to Advise Against Jeffrey Epstein Exposé
In a second batch of court documents unsealed Thursday night, a woman alleged that the former president once "threatened" reporters not to publish a story about Epstein's sex trafficking
A former Vanity Fair reporter is coming to Bill Clinton's defense after an allegation surfaced that the former president once threatened the magazine to kill its exposés on Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring.
A second batch of Epstein-related court documents unsealed Thursday night includes a 2011 email from alleged Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, in which she wrote to a friend that she was nervous about Vanity Fair's handling of her story "considering that B. Clinton walked into VF and threatened them not to write sex-trafficing [sic] articles about his good friend J.E."
Asked about the email on CNN This Morning on Friday, former Vanity Fair contributing editor Vicky Ward — who was tasked with profiling Epstein for the magazine two decades ago — said she believes Giuffre may have jumbled the details.
“I never heard that that happened," she told CNN's Phil Mattingly and Audie Cornish. "What I wonder is if Virginia [Giuffre] is hearing gossip and getting it slightly wrong."
Ward explained that when she was asked to write about Epstein's finances in 2002, she ended up hearing from two sisters, Maria and Annie Farmer, who claimed they were abused by him.
"When Jeffrey Epstein realized that I was in possession of their allegations, he appeared in the offices of Vanity Fair," Ward said. "I knew about this because the fact checker who was fact-checking my piece at the time sent me an email saying, ‘Oh my god he's standing here in the office.’ And I've said before the Farmers’ allegations were suddenly cut from the piece that was ultimately published."
Ward never heard of Clinton taking similar actions to quash her reporting, saying, "I suspect that some version of the story I've just told you probably reached its way to [Giuffre] and that might be what she's referring to.”
Related: Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Virginia Giuffre Is 'Holding Prince Andrew Accountable' with Lawsuit
Clinton — whose foundation partnered with Epstein in the early '00s — has not been linked to any crimes committed by the wealthy financier, but his documented travel on Epstein's plane has long raised questions about their relationship.
Clinton did not object to having this week's Epstein-related court documents unsealed. In a statement to PEOPLE earlier this week, his spokesperson said "it's been nearly 20 years since President Clinton last had contact with Epstein."
The spokesperson referred PEOPLE to his 2019 statement that reads, in part, "President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes" committed by Epstein.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges; his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of child sex trafficking in 2021.
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