Trevor Noah, host of the Daily Show, an American satirical news programme broadcast on Comedy Central, started his interview with Hillary and Chelsea Clinton by asking Hillary how she killed Jeffrey Epstein. Clinton looked “shocked” and then laughed as Noah asked how “they” could think she had so much power. Why was she the besieged ‘“bogeyman” of the right? This led to a discussion of absurd conspiracy theories, with Chelsea “spontaneously” volunteering that in 2016 a voter thought Clinton the better candidate but had heard she murdered more than 50 people.

Clinton is, of course, not above mouthing conspiracy theories of her own. She famously blamed “a vast right wing conspiracy” for her husband’s problems. Recently, Clinton alleged that Tulsi Gabbard, a Democratic candidate currently polling at 1.2 per cent among members of her own party, was “the favorite of the Russians”. Her accusation is, at best, an indication of the decline of Russian “power”: first they help elect Trump and now their candidate can’t even hit the 5 per cent mark.

Despite the “outrage” among some in the press, it is difficult to imagine that Noah’s questions to Clinton weren’t vetted beforehand – Hillary Clinton may even have fed him the line. Hillary, having run and lost twice, remains unwilling to slink out of public sight. Should Clinton’s fantasy be fulfilled and the Democrats beg her to run “just one more time, for the good of the nation”, she hardly wants her reputation sullied by a paedophile.

On the day after a forensic pathologist opined that Epstein did not commit suicide, Clinton joked about Epstein’s death and pushed to the point of absurdity any attempt to question its circumstances. What is so funny about a paedophile and enabler who kept cameras in the rooms where famous, rich and/or powerful people allegedly had sex with young girls? (By the way, who has copies of the tapes Epstein likely made?)

While posed as a somewhat awkward question, it appears instead to be a deliberate attempt to defuse legitimate questions about Epstein’s connections to the Clintons. The former secretary of state mocks those who want to address the disgrace of our system’s failure to hold Epstein responsible for his actions. It is a diversionary tactic to label an important question to which the public has not had access to information on a “conspiracy”. It is an attempt to turn the questioner into the wrongdoer.

Clinton knows there is reason to question her connections to Epstein. The brave journalist Whitney Webb has written a detailed account of the many links between Epstein and Bill and Hillary Clinton that date back to when Clinton was governor and continued after his presidency. At a minimum, we know that Epstein gave generously to Hillary’s Senate campaign and to the Clinton foundation. Epstein’s partner, Ghislaine Maxwell and Chelsea vacationed together and Maxwell was a guest at her wedding. And, as Politico reported, Bill Clinton flew many times on Epstein’s jet, the Lolita Express.

A version of this article first appeared on Eve Mykytyn’s website. The version here is published by permission of Eve Mykytyn.