Senator Ted Cruz has come under fire after attempting to link Hillary Clinton to the death of Jean Luc-Brunel, an associate of child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The 76-year-old billionaire, who faced trial on charges of rape of a minor and sexual harassment, was found dead in his prison cell in France on Friday night.
He was suspected of being involved in a global paedophile ring organised by the late disgraced financier Epstein, who took his own life in prison while awaiting trial for sex crimes, in 2019.
Texas senator Mr Cruz replied to a breaking announcement asking for the whereabouts of Hillary Clinton that weekend.
He wrote on Twitter: “Anyone know where Hillary was this weekend?”
Mr Cruz’s quip is believed to be in reference to longstanding conspiracy theories in US right-wing politics about the Clintons being involved in the deaths of people who may have unflattering information on them.
The decades-old and unsubstantiated claims resurfaced after the death of Epstein with memes claiming his death was murder rather than suicide and the hashtags #ClintonBodyCount and #ClintonCrimeFamily.
The claims led by the likes of QAnon activists have been consistently rubbished as absurd theories without any evidence or basis.
Senator Cruz’s attempt to reignite the conspiracy theory was met with anger on social media, where some took the opportunity to reference the Republican’s family holiday to Mexico amid a winter storm that left millions in his state without power and water in February last year.
Former congressman Joe Walsh wrote in response: “Definitely not Cancun. Ted, would you please get serious and be a United States Senator? Please?”
Political commentator Keith Olbermann added: “Say, @twitter, how do you allow this piece of s*** to continue to consistently spread lies, racism, hatred and innuendo?”
US prosecutors accused Brunel of finding young girls for his longtime associate and financier.
Lawyers for the fashion agent suggested he had killed himself, according to reports in the French press.
Le Monde reported his legal team as saying: “His decision was not driven by guilt, but by a deep sense of injustice.”
Brunel was arrested in December 2020 at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport while trying to board a plane to Senegal.
He co-founded modelling agency MC2 Model Management in the US with funding from Epstein.
Several women accused Brunel of sexual assault, and at least a dozen people were known to have given evidence for the French investigation into allegations against Epstein and his circle.
Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was trafficked by Epstein as a teenager, alleged that Brunel procured women, some of them minors, for sex with Epstein and others. He lured them with promises of modelling work, she said.
During the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the pilot of the so-called “Lolita Express,” Epstein’s private plane, said he flew presidents including Bill Clinton.
Larry Visoski name-dropped the high-profile passengers, along with actor Chris Tucker and violinist Itzhak Perlman, when asked during cross-examination if he remembered them specifically.
The Independent has contacted Senator Cruz’s representatives for comment.
