Bill and Hillary Clinton's team ignored repeated warnings about Harvey Weinstein from Lena Dunham and Tina Brown, and were planning a lucrative documentary with him in the days before he was exposed.

The former President and First Lady were effectively complicit in stopping the movie producer's history of sexual abuse from coming out, a damning New York Times investigation claims.

Dunham, a writer and actress, and Brown, a magazine editor, both warned Hillary's advisers about Weinstein as far back as 2008, but she and Bill remained friends with him.

Dunham - one of Hillary's biggest celebrity endorsers - emailed her campaign's deputy communications director last year stating: 'I just want you to let you know that Harvey's a rapist and this is going to come out at some point,' and warned 'it's a really bad idea for him to host fund-raisers and be involved.'

It is not clear if the warnings ever made it to the Clintons themselves but regardless the couple served as Weinstein's most effective 'celebrity shield'.

Their relationship was so close that on September 29, less than a week before the first story about Weinstein's predatory behavior was published, Hillary Clinton's lawyer emailed Weinstein to talk about European buyers for the documentary about her Presidential campaign.

Robert Barnett wrote to Weinstein: 'I am hopeful we can get a good price for this.'

Clinton's Complicity: Hillary was 'repeatedly warned' about the rape allegations against Harvey Weinstein but remained friends with him, a New York Times bombshell investigation has revealed. Above they are pictured at a cocktail party in 2012

Actress and writer Lena Dunham - one of Hillary's biggest supporters - and journalist Tina Brown reportedly warned Clinton's team multiple times. Brown's warning came during the 2008 Presidential race, when she advised it was 'unwise to be so closely associated with him'

The New York Times article says that Weinstein was able to carry on abusing women for decades because he built a 'wall of invulnerability' that was covered by a 'sheen of celebrity' like the Clintons.

Financed with millions of dollars, he operated a machinery of PR people, journalists, private investigators, and powerful lawyers to keep people quiet.

That also included many famous friends and 'chief among them were Bill and Hillary Clinton', the New York Times said.

By aligning himself with liberal causes it allowed Weinstein to portray himself as a champion of women and LGBT people, an effective foil to the reality of him being a sexual predator.

The claims in the article come as the Democrats are reexamining Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct whilst in office through the post-Weinstein prism.

Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand shocked the party when she said last month that he should have stepped down for having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Weinstein, who was fired from his company The Weinstein Co and is being investigated by police in the US, the UK, and France, has been a supporter of the Clintons and Barack Obama for years.

He has personally donated and bundled $1.4 million to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and when Bill Clinton was facing impeachment Weinstein donated $10,000 to his legal defense fund.

In an email to Hillary's campaign deputy communications director last year, Dunham warned that Harvey 'is a rapist and this is going to come out at some point.' Clinton's team has denied receiving any warnings

Long-term friends: Weinstein personally donated $1.4 million to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. By aligning himself with liberal causes it allowed him to portray himself as a champion of women and LGBT people (Pictured above in 2004)

Weinstein was a guest in Hillary Clinton's hotel room when she won her 2000 Senate race, he was an early backer of both her Presidential bids and dined with her days after her shock loss to Donald Trump in November last year.

The New York Times article claims that Clinton Inc, as Clinton's team is known, had at least three warnings that Weinstein was dangerous but did not sever ties with him.

Last year Dunham sent a blunt email to Kristina Schake, Hillary Clinton's campaign's deputy communications director.

It read: 'I just want you to let you know that Harvey's a rapist and this is going to come out at some point.

'I think it's a really bad idea for him to host fund-raisers and be involved because it's an open secret in Hollywood that he has a problem with sexual assault'.

Dunham said that Schake was surprised and said she would speak to Robby Mook, the campaign manager and one of Hillary Clinton's most trusted aides.

Last summer Dunham said she sounded the alarm again to Adrienne Elrod, one of Hillary Clinton's spokeswomen who was in charge of reaching out to celebrities.

Dunham said her concerns appeared to have been ignored - weeks before the election Weinstein helped to organize a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton featuring Anne Hathaway and Julia Roberts among others.

Brown's warning to the Clinton camp came during the 2008 Presidential race.

Democrats are now reexamining Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct while he was in office through the post-Weinstein prism. Harvey donated $10,000 to Bill's legal defense fund during his impeachment

She said that she told one of their inner circle and said: 'I was hearing that Harvey's sleaziness with women had escalated since I left Talk (magazine) in 2002 and she was unwise to be so closely associated with him'.

In response Clinton's advisers issued a flurry of statements.

Nick Merrill, Hillary Clinton's communications director told the New York Times: 'We were shocked when we learned what he'd done. It's despicable behavior, and the women that have come forward have shown enormous courage.

'As to claims about a warning, that's something staff wouldn't forget.'

Referring to Dunham, he said: 'Only she can answer why she would tell them instead of those who could stop him.'

Elrod and Schake denied that Dunham mentioned rape to them and Mook said he was never alerted to her concerns.

Hillary Clinton herself came under fire for waiting a week before she addressed the Weinstein scandal.

She was accused of hypocrisy by some of his victims but she eventually gave an interview saying she was 'shocked and appalled' and that his behavior 'cannot be tolerated'.

Despite this, the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton's charitable organization, will not return the donations from Weinstein which is listed on their accounts as being between $100,000 and $250,000.

Dunham, a vocal supporter of feminism, has gone through her own controversy about sexual misconduct after defending a former colleague who was accused of inappropriate behavior, sparking a storm of criticism on social media.

She said in a statement that she has an 'incredible allegiance to Hillary' and does not think her concerns were ever relayed directly to her.

But she said: 'A year and a half ago, on one of the most progressive campaigns in history, this wasn't a problem,' referring to Weinstein.

The lengthy investigation in the New York Times included interviews with 200 people who told of his disturbing array of techniques for silencing people.

According to the newspaper, Weinstein offered $50,000 to the former manager representing actress Rose McGowan, who was writing a memoir that included details about how he allegedly raped her.

Weinstein is said to have hired ex-Mossad agents to spy on his accusers and paid gossip writers to dig up dirt on celebrities he could use to barter with reporters who wanted to expose him.