Chapter 189: There Are Many Jews
On January 20, 1993, Bill Clinton held his presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., formally taking over the presidency from George H. W. Bush.
Aaron arrived at Capitol Hill with Christiana Reali to attend Clinton's inaugural address.
"There are so many people," Christiana said, gazing at the sea of faces filling the plaza in front of the Capitol.
"There really are," Aaron replied with a smile.
"After all, this is the inauguration of the president of the world's dominant superpower."
He patted the seat beside him and leaned closer to Christiana.
"Michael Jackson will be performing later. Once his performance ends, we'll leave early," he said.
"In the evening, we'll attend the inaugural banquet."
By midday, Aaron brought Christiana back to the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington.
"Are you tired?" he asked gently, holding her close.
"You flew from Paris to New York, and then straight on to Washington, D.C."
"I'm fine," Christiana replied, leaning into his embrace.
"So… will I be staying in Hollywood from now on?"
"Of course," Aaron said, lowering his head and kissing her softly.
"As long as I'm here, you won't lack acting opportunities."
Christiana responded eagerly to his kiss, and the two retreated into the bedroom.
---
That evening, Aaron and Christiana attended Clinton's inaugural banquet together.
The atmosphere was lively and celebratory, filled with laughter and conversation.
"Aaron," Jack Wells greeted him as he arrived at the venue.
"You just got here?" Aaron asked.
"Yes. I had a few things to deal with."
Aaron nodded, then Jack pulled him aside to make an introduction.
"This is Mr. Mark Middleton, an adviser to President Clinton."
"Good evening, Mr. Anderson," Middleton said warmly.
"Thank you for your support of President Clinton."
"Good evening," Aaron replied politely.
Through Middleton, Aaron was introduced to several other members of Clinton's team.
After Middleton left, Aaron leaned toward Jack and remarked quietly,
"As expected, there are really quite a lot of Jewish people in Clinton's team."
Jack chuckled lightly.
"Who cares? In the end, it's all about interests."
Afterward, Aaron clinked glasses with Clinton once more and exchanged a few brief words. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed Mark Middleton returning to Clinton—this time accompanied by a man and a woman.
"Wall Street financier Jeffrey Epstein and his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell," Middleton introduced them.
As Aaron walked away, he caught the introduction—and his expression stiffened slightly.
Epstein already knows Clinton? That was fast.
"What's wrong?" Jack Wells asked, noticing that Aaron's gaze lingered on the pair who had just passed by.
"Jeffrey Epstein," Aaron said quietly.
"He's been a rising star on Wall Street these past few years, accumulating quite a fortune in financial circles."
Of course, what would later make Epstein infamous wasn't his wealth—but that island in the Caribbean.
A pair of professional traffickers.
"And the woman with him," Aaron continued,
"is the daughter of Robert Maxwell—former British MP and media tycoon who controlled outlets like The Mirror."
"Last year, Robert Maxwell drowned under mysterious circumstances after falling from his private yacht near the Canary Islands off Spain."
Jack glanced at him.
"Robert Maxwell was a British Jew of Israeli descent," Aaron added.
"During his time running the Mirror Group, he was involved in large-scale financial fraud. His death was never fully explained."
"And that whole circle," Aaron said flatly,
"has very close ties to Israeli intelligence."
Aaron was no stranger to finance and media—especially the latter.
Jack smirked faintly.
"Looks like the Jewish networks are about to reap a very generous return from Clinton."
After all, Clinton had originally been little more than a compromise candidate within the Democratic Party—not exactly a heavyweight.
And yet, against all expectations, he had defeated the incumbent president, George H. W. Bush.
Aaron smiled lightly.
"No choice. The man really did get lucky," he said.
"Ross Perot split Bush's vote badly."
In the November election, Clinton won less than 43 percent of the vote.
Bush had around 37.5 percent.
Meanwhile, independent candidate Ross Perot captured a staggering 18.9 percent.
Many voters who would otherwise have backed Bush ended up voting for Perot instead—making him the most successful independent candidate in U.S. history.
"By the way," Jack said, lowering his voice,
"I'm planning to buy a plot of land to build a training facility. I've already discussed it with several people from Angel Security."
"We'll train our personnel using Marine Corps or special forces standards."
His eyes lit up as he spoke.
Aaron patted him on the shoulder.
"That's long overdue. Most of your people are experienced veterans anyway."
"High-end executive protection, police training, witness protection, hostage rescue—those are all areas you can expand into."
Jack grinned and added quietly,
"And mercenary work, too. You know how cheap weapons are in Eastern Europe and Russia?"
"Ship them to Africa, flip them, and it's pure profit. We could even supply arms to Iraqi garrisons—the Defense Department puts out orders all the time."
"We can start small and scale up."
Aaron pursed his lips.
This guy really has a fixation on becoming an arms dealer…
"Speaking of infrastructure," Aaron said instead,
"Dawnlight Pictures also needs to buy land in Burbank—for a headquarters and production base."
"Soundstages, prop warehouses, recording studios—the whole package. I'm planning to acquire the entire industrial zone near Glendale."
Up to now, Dawnlight's productions had relied on rented facilities at Sony Pictures in Culver City or Universal Studios in Hollywood.
But with more films—and a television division coming—having no in-house studio was increasingly impractical.
Jack nodded.
"That makes sense. After last year's L.A. riots, there's a lot of reconstruction going on."
"A major investment like Dawn Studios will be welcomed in Burbank. You'll get full support from the city."
Then Jack seemed to recall something and lowered his voice again.
"Do you remember Ari Emanuel from CAA?"
Aaron paused. "The agent who left CAA back then?"
"That's him," Jack said casually.
"I had someone break his leg afterward."
Aaron blinked.
"He has a brother—Rahm Emanuel," Jack continued.
"He joined the Israeli Defense Forces during the Gulf War. After returning to the U.S., he joined Clinton's campaign."
"He's been handling Clinton's sex scandals and seems to be trusted."
Jack gestured subtly toward the crowd.
"There—see the young man with the cane? The Emanuel brothers are both here tonight."