Epstein told victim that Bill Clinton ‘likes them young’, new court filings reveal
Among the hundreds of pages of filings unsealed Wednesday, victim Johanna Sjoberg spoke about what she knew about Bill Clinton’s ties to Epstein
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein once told one of his victims that Bill Clinton “likes them young”, according to dramatic testimony revealed in court documents unsealed for the very first time.
Dozens of Epstein associates were unmasked on Wednesday after a judge ordered the unsealing of court documents in a now-settled lawsuit brought by abuse victim Virginia Giuffre against Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Among the hundreds of pages of filings, another victim Johanna Sjoberg spoke about what she knew about Mr Clinton’s ties to Epstein as part of a 2016 deposition that also made allegations against Prince Andrew.
Under sworn testimony, she said that Epstein had told her the former president liked girls “young”.
“[Epstein] said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls,” she testified.
When asked if she knew Mr Clinton was a friend of Epstein, she said: “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.”
However, Ms Sjoberg testified that she never met Mr Clinton, never saw him on Epstein’s Caribbean island and never saw him being flown in a helicopter by Maxwell.
In total, Mr Clinton’s name appears at least 73 times in the first batch of documents released on Wednesday.
There is no indication that the former president is involved in any wrongdoing and is not accused of any crime.
The Independent has reached out to Mr Clinton’s representative for comment.
His spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday that it has now “been nearly 20 years since President Clinton last had contact with Epstein” and denied that the former president ever had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Flight logs have previously revealed that Mr Clinton flew on Epstein’s private jet in 2002 and 2003 to destinations outside the Caribbean.
Ms Giuffre has claimed she once met Mr Clinton on Epstein’s Caribbean island.
Several more documents – and names – are expected to be released over the coming days.
Ms Giuffre filed the defamation lawsuit against Maxwell in 2015, after she accused her of lying about the years-long abuse she had suffered at the hands of Epstein and some in his inner circle.
The suit was settled in 2017 but was placed under a protective seal – with the identities of those named in the filings kept under lock and key.
The Miami Herald sued for the release of the sealed documents while Maxwell’s legal team sought to block it.
Around 2,000 pages of documents were first unsealed in 2019, with further documents released over the following years.
But, this current trove of documents remained sealed – and the names of hundreds of people associated with the dead paedophile were kept secret, known only as Jane and John Does.
Then, in a landmark ruling last month, US District Judge Loretta Preska ruled that the trove of documents could be released and the names unsealed in full after 1 January.
While the federal judge ordered the names of several Epstein victims to remain anonymous, she said that there was no legal justification to keep the names of Epstein’s associates redacted as “John and Jane Does”.
This has now paved the way for several famous figuresto find themselves tied to the notorious disgraced financier.
Many have previously been connected to Epstein in media reports, lawsuits and Maxwell’s trial testimony.
Some of the documents have already been released in part or in full as part of other court cases, the judge said.
An individual being named in the documents does not necessarily mean they are accused of any wrongdoing.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019.
Maxwell was convicted of child sex trafficking in 2021 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments