Bad, Bad Senators: Flights to Cuba, Young ‘Women,’ and Elite Club’s Dark Legacy
In January of 2017, U.S. Senator and incoming Attorney General Jeff Sessions had a problem before he recused himself from the largest case possibly in modern history at the time. The case he recused himself from involved allegations of Russia Collusion, Operation Crossfire Hurricane and spying on an incoming president. That month, POLITICO reported that Sessions was a member of the 116 Club, a successor to the Quorum Club, home to a major sex scandal that involved dozens (possibly hundreds) of U.S. Senate members years earlier.
Veteran CIA pilot and longtime intelligence-connected whistleblower Robert Tosh Plumlee already knew all about the exploits of Senate members belonging to the Quorum Club, the predecessor to the 116 Club (BECAUSE HE TRANSPORTED THEM) details his experience as a pilot for these compromised politicians, writing:
Ellen Rometsch was one of the women and underaged girls we cut-out pilots ferried to hotels and casinos in the Dominican Republic and Cuba for assignations with US politicians. Most of these arrangements were made through the Quorum Club, which was located on Capitol Hill and run by LBJ political advisor and crony Bobby Baker. – Deep Cover, Shallow Graves, p. 123
CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT TOSH PLUMLEE’S NEW BOOK, DEEP COVER, SHALLOW GRAVES
According to Plumlee, what he witnessed during those trips revealed a hidden world of political privilege, sexual exploitation, and elite networking that may have shaped Washington for decades.
- Plumlee flew senators and insiders to pre-Castro Havana.
- Bobby Baker allegedly built Washington’s hidden influence network in the Senate.
- The Quorum Club operated from the Carroll Arms Hotel as did members who also belonged to the Senate.
- The 116 Club remains secretive despite decades of scrutiny.
- Parallels to later elite trafficking scandals raise questions the Senate must answer
Senate Honey Traps: Real Then, Real Now
Yes, it involved U.S. Senators and the U.S. Senate is not immune to honey traps. Baker, already under investigation for matters related to influence peddling, jumped right into the fire from the frying pan when the sexual side of the scandal exploded. That came about when Ellen Rometsch’s affair with JFK went public. That sucked in the Quorum Club, and Baker to something much bigger; he resigned six weeks before JFK’s assassination. It was also a scandal that greatly threatened LBJ, then vice president and president of the Senate.
Baker was also the driving force behind the Quorum Club, an exclusive and highly secretive gathering place located inside the Carroll Arms Hotel on Capitol Hill. The club catered to senators, lobbyists, congressional staffers, and powerful insiders who wanted a private venue away from public scrutiny. Its reputation for excess and questionable behavior became the subject of scandal long before Washington’s modern influence industry took shape.
It was replaced by The One Hundred Sixteen Club and JEFF SESSIONS was a member; POLITICO reported that; it’s not a secret.
Plumlee alleges that some of the politicians and insiders he flew to Cuba returned accompanied by young women who were subsequently introduced into elite Washington circles within the Senate. He contends that these women became part of a broader network servicing influential members of the Quorum Club, which included members of the Senate, and their associates. This would mean that political compromise and exploitation may have operated behind the scenes in Washington decades before the public became aware of similar allegations involving later generations of powerful figures.
The Quorum Club itself became notorious during the Bobby Baker scandals of the 1960s. Yet the story did not end when the Carroll Arms Hotel was demolished. The club simply relocated, changed its name, and continued operating as the exclusive 116 Club. To this day, the membership roster remains largely hidden from public view, fueling speculation about who belongs and what influence the organization still wields behind closed doors.
The mystery deepened in January 2017 when POLITICO published an article revealing that then-Senator and incoming Attorney General Jeff Sessions was a member of the 116 Club. The timing was suspicious, especially with the hindsight of what we’ve leared about the Epstein scandal. Shortly after assuming office, Sessions recused himself from matters involving the Trump-Russia investigation, effectively removing himself from oversight of one of the Department of Justice’s most consequential cases. Responsibility instead fell to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whose own role in subsequent FISA renewals and investigative decisions would become a matter of intense public controversy.
Those events raise a larger question: Why was Sessions’s membership in the club suddenly newsworthy at precisely that moment? Was it simply routine reporting, or was someone sending a message? And if the 116 Club is merely a social organization, why does its membership remain so guarded?
The parallels, and possibly the blueprint itself, to the later Jeffrey Epstein scandal are difficult to ignore. An exclusive network. Powerful political figures. Young, young women. Private transportation. Elite access. The similarities are so striking that they invite an obvious question: Did Epstein invent a new model, or was he following a blueprint that had existed inside Washington power circles for decades?
Having personally flown many of the players involved, Tosh Plumlee offers a rare firsthand perspective into a forgotten chapter of American political history—one that may help explain how power, secrecy, and influence have operated behind the scenes for generations.
Relevant Article(s):
Inside the 116 Club, Jeff Sessions’ hidden haunt – POLITICO
The Hill is Home | Lost Capitol Hill: Shady Doings at the Quorum Club | The Hill is Home
Sex in the Senate – POLITICO Magazine
OPTIONAL Q&A:
- Did the Quorum Club serve a purpose beyond socializing for Washington insiders and Senate members?
- What role did Bobby Baker play in organizing trips between Washington and Havana for members of the Senate?
- Who were the kinds of politicians and power brokers you transported to Cuba? Senate or others?
- What did you personally observe regarding young women being brought back from Havana?
- How did the Quorum Club operate inside the Carroll Arms Hotel on a day-to-day basis?
- What similarities do you see between the Quorum Club network and the later Jeffrey Epstein operation? One involved the Senate, the other elites.
- Why do you believe the Quorum Club evolved into the 116 Club rather than simply disappearing?
- What questions about the 116 Club, Jeff Sessions, and Washington influence networks remain unanswered today?
ABOUT ROBERT “TOSH” PLUMLEE…
Robert “Tosh” Plumlee is a former contract pilot who claims to have participated in covert aviation operations connected to U.S. intelligence agencies beginning in the early 1950s.
According to his account, he flew missions throughout the Caribbean and Latin America involving weapons transfers, intelligence logistics, and clandestine operations targeting Cuba.
Plumlee has provided statements to investigators examining intelligence activities and the Kennedy assassination over several decades.
ABOUT DORY WILEY…
Dory A. Wiley has studied the assassination of President John F. Kennedy for more than 40 years and is one of Dallas’s foremost independent researchers on the subject. He has done extensive work on the claims made by Robert “Tosh” Plumlee and finds them to be largely unassailable. For the past decade he has hosted an annual JFK Assassination Symposium in Dallas, bringing together researchers, historians, and eyewitnesses to examine the evidence and pursue the historical record. He serves on the Board of the Dallas Historical Society, and the University of North Texas Library. Mr. Wiley is President & CEO of Commerce Street Holdings, LLC, and appears frequently on CNBC and Fox Business as a guest contributor on financial topics.
ABOUT RALPH PEZZULLO…
Pezzullo is a New York Times bestselling author, and award-winning playwright and screenwriter. He is also the host of the popular podcast “Heroes Behind Headlines,” which is ranked in the top 1% off all podcasts worldwide.
Born in New York City, he grew up in Mexico, Vietnam, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Uruguay and Nicaragua as the son of a US diplomat. His over 30 books published include New York Times bestsellers Jawbreaker (with former CIA operative Gary Berntsen), Inside SEAL Team Six (with Don Mann), Most Evil, Zero Footprint, Left of Boom and Ghost. His latest books, both released in 2025, are The Great Chinese Art Heist and Stolen Elections: Takedown of Democracies Worldwide.
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