Dem
47
GOP
53
As reporters continue to pick through the (poorly organized) Epstein dump, new facts come out almost daily, with new actors implicated. The most recent company to be ensnared by Epstein is American Express, which runs a travel agency among its businesses. It turns out that when Epstein needed to fly women and girls from Eastern Europe to his private island, he turned to American Express to arrange all the travel.
The company didn't see all this travel as peculiar and so did not warn the FBI about it. Nope, it booked hundreds of flights for women and girls from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and Belarus to the U.S. and on to other places. This went on for at least 7 years, from 2012 to 2019, long after Epstein was convicted on charges of procuring a minor for prostitution. Didn't anyone at the company ask: Why is this convicted sex trafficker flying all these girls from Eastern Europe to the U.S. and beyond? Nope. All they asked for was his credit card number.
Actually, they didn't even have to ask. Epstein had an Amex Centurion Card, the most prestigious card out there, which is by invitation only and comes with a $10,000 initiation fee and $5,000 annual fee. Maybe someone low down in the company did ask, but was told by higher ups: "Just shut up and book the flights." This could be something Congress might want to look into.
One person who would definitely know more about this sordid business is Lesley Groff, Epstein's long-time executive assistant. She was the contact between Epstein and American Express and would know who at the company was his account manager and more. Congress might want to invite Groff over for tea and a chat. There are so many leads floating around that an investigation would have many places to start. Leads aren't the problem. Interest in following them is the problem.
The Amex connection isn't the only bit of new Epstein news. Instead of hauling the CEO of American Express in front of Congress to answer some tough questions, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is going to cross examine Bill Clinton later this week. Good luck with that. Clinton has more experience with this than Comer. In 1998, Clinton testified in a lawsuit filed by Arkansas state employee Paula Jones, who accused him of sexually harassing her. Then he testified again in the Monica Lewinsky case. Slick Willy knows how to handle this kind of stuff. He did so well that in the next midterms, the Democrats gained a couple of House seats—the first time since 1934 that the president's party actually won seats instead of losing them. Clinton's tormentors, Speaker Newt Gingrich and later Rep. Bob Livingston, were both forced to resign when their own extramarital affairs "leaked" out. And Clinton's popularity went up. It was at 73% when he was impeached in Dec. 1998 and he was acquitted by the Senate.
Comer also subpoenaed Hillary Clinton. She can also testify with the best of them. In Oct. 2015, she withstood an 11-hour partisan attack in Congress about a terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that she was not involved in personally, although she was secretary of state at the time. In this case, Hillary can simply say: "Bill travels all over the world for the Clinton Foundation. I can't keep track of where he is or what he is up to." Then she can rattle off all the valuable philanthropic projects the Foundation runs. If Comer thinks he has two chickens ready to be plucked, he is likely to be very surprised by their resilience. Neither one is going to be intimidated by a guy with a B.S. in agriculture from Western Kentucky University and no law degree. The whole stunt could easily backfire on him. (V)