Former President Bill Clinton claimed that he took four trips, accompanied by the Secret Service, on billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s “Lolita Express” private airplane, but flight manifests reveal at least six separate journeys, two of which were without Secret Service agents.
The two trips not acknowledged by Clinton were from Miami, Florida, to Westchester, New York, in early February 2002, which appears to be the first time that Clinton joined Epstein, and a trip in Asia.
One May 2002 Asian trip, without Secret Service agents, included stops in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, and Brunei. The other, in November 2003, with Secret Service agents, included stops in Norway, Siberia, Hong Kong, and China.
Another divergence from Clinton’s account is that the manifests show no Secret Service agents were present for one of the former president’s Africa trips with Epstein.
The discrepancies between Clinton’s claims and the flight manifests draw the former president deeper into the Epstein scandal. Epstein has also been associated with Prince Andrew and President Trump, a fellow resident of Palm Beach, Florida. Trump reportedly flew with Epstein and in 2002 described him as a “terrific guy,” adding: “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
On Monday, Clinton’s press secretary Angel Ureña said in a statement: “In 2002 and 2003, President Clinton took a total of four trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane: One to Europe, one to Asia, and two to Africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation.” Supporters of the Foundation, and his Secret Service detail traveled on every leg of every trip.”
But a Washington Examiner review of flight manifest records contradicts these claims. It shows Clinton took 27 flights on Epstein’s private jet during at least six different trips.
Court documents outlining the trips and the individual flights were filed as an exhibit in a lawsuit by Bradley Edwards, an attorney for some of Epstein’s accusers.
Epstein was arrested on Saturday when his plane landed in Teterboro, New Jersey, after taking off from Paris. He pleaded not guilty in federal court on Monday to charges of conspiracy and child sex trafficking.
The controversial financier struck a deal in 2008 with federal prosecutors, including Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, that allowed him to avoid 10 years in prison on charges of sexually abusing minors as young as 14 and having some of his victims recruit other girls in exchange for serving 13 months in jail and paying restitution to victims.
Statement on Jeffrey Epstein. pic.twitter.com/98ha9YYd1l
— Angel Ureña (@angelurena) July 8, 2019
The six Clinton-Epstein trips detailed within the travel logs include the Miami to Westchester trip, the two Asia trips, a trip to Europe in February 2002, and two trips to Africa in July 2002 and late September to October 2002.
Fox News, which obtained the flight records in 2016, said that despite Freedom of Information Act requests, it had not received evidence that the Secret Service was present on those flights.
On the first Asia trip, the logs show Clinton and Epstein were joined by top Clinton aide Doug Band, wealthy socialite and Epstein’s onetime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, former Epstein assistant Sarah Kellen, women listed only as “Janice” and “Jessica,” and a few others.
