Hillary Clinton told the BBC this week that she met Ghislaine Maxwell "on a few occasions." The Justice Department's latest tranche of documents relating to the late Jeffrey Epstein tells a different story, revealing that Maxwell played a significant role in the Clinton orbit of politics.
Maxwell, in her Justice Department interview last year, said she had a "very central" role in setting up the Clinton Global Initiative. Not peripheral. Not incidental. Central.
According to emails contained in the government's investigative files, Maxwell was deeply involved in planning the inaugural Clinton Global Initiative conference. The records show she participated in budget discussions, worked through logistical challenges with Clinton aides and the event's producer, Publicis Groupe, and arranged the transfer of $1 million to pay Publicis for its work on what was described in emails as "the Clinton project."
It's unclear where the $1 million came from, but the emails show Epstein was aware of the payment. Epstein asked Maxwell in one email why the money was needed "now and where will it be going."
Hillary Clinton said she met Maxwell "on a few occasions" through the Clinton Foundation. When the BBC's Jessica Parker pressed on Maxwell's connection to CGI, Clinton claimed that "thousands of people go to the Clinton Global Initiative."
CNN's Andrew Kaczynski wasn't buying it. "Maxwell did not just go to CGI, Maxwell and her charity partnered with CGI and Maxwell was an honored guest in 2013 there for her ocean charity making commitments at CGI," Kaczynski wrote.
According to Breitbart, Years after she was publicly accused in civil lawsuits and the press of helping Jeffrey Epstein groom and sexually abuse minors, Maxwell was an honored guest at the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative conference in September 2013. Previously unreported information reviewed by CNN lists Maxwell among those recommended for complimentary access to the conference, a list that, according to a source familiar with it, indicates her access was personally recommended by either Bill or Hillary Clinton.
This was not "thousands of people" blending into a crowd. Footage discovered by CNN's KFile shows Maxwell rising to applause during a CGI luncheon on ocean conservation, recognized alongside other "Commitment to Action" leaders. "It was rare, prestigious and an honor to be acknowledged the way Ghislaine was at the CGI annual meeting," sources told CNN.
That recognition came in 2013. By the time Maxwell was honored at the 2013 CGI conference, the allegations that she had recruited girls for Epstein and even participated in their abuse had been covered in major British and American outlets, and had prompted Clinton staff to bar her from official events by 2011. Two years later, there she was, standing to applause.
Richard Attias, a former Publicis executive, confirmed Maxwell's foundational role. Attias said in an interview that Maxwell had played a key role in getting CGI established: "She was in Davos with President Clinton, and this is when they realized the amazing impact of Davos and they came up with the idea of creating something similar, but with a different philosophy."
CGI was conceived as Clinton's version of the annual gathering of the global elite in Davos, Switzerland, albeit with a more philanthropic approach. Maxwell didn't just attend this vision. She helped architect it.
Maxwell's involvement in the launch of the Clinton Global Initiative took place in 2004, before Epstein's 2006 indictment and 2008 guilty plea for solicitation of prostitution with a minor, and long before Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to two decades in prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually exploit underage girls.
In a Justice Department interview, Maxwell said, "President Clinton was my friend, not Epstein's friend." She added that Epstein had been "very enthusiastic" about her involvement in the initiative. Maxwell said of her work with CGI: "[Epstein] supported me to help them, but then I think he may have tried to use that to insert himself in some way, that would not have surprised me at all."
Epstein reportedly donated to Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, donated $10,000 to refurbish the White House, and donated $20,000 to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign in 1999.
Maxwell was "already known" to have attended Chelsea Clinton's 2010 wedding with her then-boyfriend, Ted Waitt, a tech billionaire and a big donor to the Clinton Foundation. That's not a "few occasions" kind of relationship. That's a wedding invite.
Maxwell told the Justice Department that she last saw Bill Clinton sometime between 2016 and 2018, when they had dinner together in Los Angeles. Maxwell remained in the Clinton orbit long after Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The Clinton camp's official line hasn't changed. Former President Clinton said he stopped speaking with Epstein before his 2006 indictment. Spokesperson Angel Ureña offered the standard denial:
He knew nothing about Epstein's crimes. When it became clear Epstein had no genuine interest in lifesaving philanthropic work, there was no reason for further contact. The facts are the facts and the truth is the truth, and they're both on our side.
A confident statement. But the facts Ureña invokes keep cutting in the wrong direction.
The timing of Hillary Clinton's BBC interview was no accident. In a surprise move, Hillary gave an interview to the BBC, likely trying to set the table for her testimony, putting out the points she wanted to influence the audience beforehand.
Former President Clinton will appear for a deposition on February 27, 2026 and former Secretary Clinton will appear for a deposition on February 26, 2026. After delaying and defying duly issued subpoenas for six months, the House Oversight Committee moved swiftly to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings. Once it became clear that the House of Representatives would hold them in contempt, the Clintons completely caved.
The record of resistance is remarkable:
Six months of dodging. Bipartisan contempt votes. Then they "caved," as Chairman Comer put it.
The couple's knowledge of Epstein and Maxwell is "very limited and totally unrelated to their behavior or their crimes," Hillary Clinton said. The former secretary of state accused Comer of forcing them to appear for depositions "to protect" President Trump.
That accusation rings hollow when the subpoenas were bipartisan, the contempt vote was bipartisan, and the documents forcing these questions come from the Justice Department itself.
Consider what "a few occasions" must cover, according to the documented record:
"A few occasions" is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Hillary Clinton wants the public to believe that a woman who helped create her husband's marquee post-presidential project, attended their daughter's wedding, was personally approved for VIP treatment at their conference, and visited their home was essentially a passing acquaintance. The documents suggest otherwise. The depositions next week should test which version holds up under oath.
