Liberal news outlet Mother Jones seems to think it is okay for political figures to turn a blind eye to the illegal activity of their billionaire donors, even if that activity is sexually assaulting underage girls.
Mother Jones on Wednesday mocked conservative outlets, saying the "right [is] in a tizzy" over reports that former President Bill Clinton must have been aware of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual exploits with underage girls on his island resort and private plane.
Mother Jones correctly states that "Clinton's relationship with Epstein is old news," but new information about their relationship was revealed in legal documents related to a case of an underage girl who says Epstein made her a "sex slave" and that she was given by Epstein to Britain’s Prince Andrew.
We now know, for instance, that Epstein kept 21 phone numbers to reach Clinton on his speed dial. The court documents also allege that Clinton "had to know what was going on" with Epstein’s guests and underage girls, even if he wasn’t involved. Lawyers even considered subpoenaing Clinton since he "might well be a source of relevant information."
Mother Jones posits that even if Clinton had his suspicions, it would have been reasonable for him to keep his mouth shut about them since Epstein was a rich donor.
Here is Mother Jones, attempting to explain why Clinton didn’t ask questions about the illegal activity going on right in front of him (emphasis added):
Clinton and Epstein were indeed once close. The former president used Epstein's private jet. And the presence of numerous teenage girls on the financier's private island might have struck a visitor as unusual or even troublesome. But there certainly was a compelling reason for a politician not to ask too many questions: Epstein had given tens of millions of dollars to political and philanthropic causes. And there's another ingredient to the case that makes it a less-than-natural fit for political point-scoring—one of Epstein's lawyers during his criminal case was none other than Kenneth Starr, whose investigation in the Clinton White House produced the Lewinsky scandal.
UPDATE 2:26 p.m.: Mother Jones now says that they think that Clinton turning a blind eye to Epstein was "a bad thing" and that they were not defending Clinton.