Mark Middleton — who used to be a special assistant to President Bill Clinton and was a finance director on his presidential campaign — passed away on Saturday, according to an announcement from his family.
Middleton was only 59 years old, and the cause of death was not revealed.
According to the Daily Mail, in addition to running an air conditioning business that was one of the largest HVAC providers in Arkansas for many years, Middleton was the man who admitted Jeffrey Epstein to the White House complex on seven of the 17 occasions that he visited. He also flew on Epstein’s plane and “appears to have acted as a conduit between the two men.”
A source has told DailyMail.com that some of Middleton’s meetings with Epstein happened in room 176 which was in the old Executive Office building, not the White House.
The source said that Middleton asked for a meeting room next to the White House mess, which was in the West Wing, so he could impress his guests with his proximity to the Oval Office.
The source said: ‘Mark was trying to make himself look bigger than he was. He was trying to make himself out like he had more power than he really did in the White House.
‘Mark knew that Epstein was managing the money of Les Wexner,’ referring to the billionaire founder of L Brands and Victoria’s Secret.
The source went on: ‘The year 1994 there were midterm elections, Clinton needed money and Mark thought he could get some of Wexner’s money.
But Middleton’s exit from the White House didn’t go well in February 1995. The White House accused him of abusing his access to impress his business clients. After an investigation, they barred him from the executive mansion without senior approval. He denied that he had done anything wrong.
While the obituary didn’t declare what the cause of death was, people were asked to donate to a local “counseling and therapy” service.
The Pulaski County (Arkansas) Sheriff’s office said they had not responded to Middleton’s death, and neither had the county coroner, according to their offices. So the cause is not clear.