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How many times has bill clinton been on epstein plane
Executive summary
Flight logs and reporting consistently show former President Bill Clinton flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s planes multiple times in 2001–2003, with major outlets and document releases counting roughly 26 individual flights across six trips between Feb. 9, 2002, and Nov. 4, 2003 [1] [2] [3]. Available sources also say Clinton’s office acknowledged four trips with staff on Epstein’s plane in 2002–2003 but deny he visited Epstein’s private island; the flight logs contain no listing of Clinton on a Virgin Islands–bound plane [4] [1] [5].
1. What the flight logs show — numbers and timeframe
Unsealed flight manifests and later releases of Epstein-related documents have Clinton’s name on numerous legs of Epstein’s aircraft mostly dated between 2001 and 2003; several outlets and analyses counted 26 flights (described as 26 “legs” across six trips) taken from Feb. 9, 2002, through Nov. 4, 2003 [1] [2] [3]. Some summaries say Clinton was listed on “more than a dozen” occasions; detailed counts by news organizations converged on the 26-flight figure when counting each separate flight segment recorded in the logs [6] [3].
2. How Clinton’s camp described the trips
Clinton’s spokespersons have given a narrower description: acknowledging four trips with staff on Epstein’s private plane in 2002–2003 and saying Clinton met Epstein in New York in 2002; the statements also assert Clinton “knows nothing” about Epstein’s crimes and deny visits to Epstein’s island, New Mexico ranch or Palm Beach residence [4] [7]. That acknowledgement is cited alongside media counts derived from the flight manifests that list individual flight legs [4] [7].
3. What “26 flights” means — trips versus legs
Reporting and fact‑checks make a distinction between “trips” and individual flight legs: the 26 number comes from counting each recorded flight segment (legs) across several multi-stop journeys, not 26 separate round‑trips or distinct visits to Epstein properties [1] [5]. Some accounts therefore describe “six trips” that included multiple stops, producing the larger flight‑leg tally [1] [5].
4. The island question — what the logs do and do not show
Multiple fact‑checks and reporting emphasize that none of the flight logs list Clinton as a passenger on planes bound for Epstein’s U.S. Virgin Islands property; Clinton’s representatives have said he never went to Little St. James, and the flight manifests released do not show him on Virgin Islands–bound flights [1] [5]. Claims that Clinton visited Epstein’s island dozens of times are not supported by the flight‑log records cited in current reporting [1] [5].
5. Why this matters — public interest and limits of the record
Flight logs are documentary evidence of presence on particular flights but do not by themselves prove what occurred at destinations, nor do they establish criminal conduct; news organizations and courts have repeatedly cautioned that names in logs are not proof of wrongdoing [6]. The logs, contact lists and related documents fuel legitimate oversight and questions — for example, congressional subpoenas and reporting cite the logs as a basis for inquiries — but they are one piece of a wider evidentiary picture [4] [8].
6. Competing narratives and how sources disagree
Mainstream outlets, court releases and fact‑checkers converge around the 26-flight tally for the early‑2000s period [1] [2] [3]. Clinton’s team frames the contact as limited and tied to official foundation work or staff travel, acknowledging fewer “trips” in public statements [4] [7]. Some reporting gives more conservative wording (“more than a dozen” flights) depending on how counts are categorized or which files were used [6] [7].
7. Caveats and remaining unknowns
Available sources do not mention contemporaneous details about every individual flight manifest entry (passenger lists, whether Secret Service accompanied him on each leg, or on‑the‑ground activities) beyond the aggregate counts and some documented instances where Secret Service travel was present [8] [5]. They also do not provide evidence in these documents that Clinton participated in or knew about Epstein’s criminal activities — sources explicitly note that names in logs are not evidence of wrongdoing [6] [5].
Bottom line: contemporary reporting and released flight manifests document Clinton’s presence on Epstein aircraft on numerous legs in the 2001–2003 window, most commonly tallied as 26 flight legs across several trips; Clinton’s representatives acknowledge a smaller number of trips with staff and deny visits to Epstein’s island, and the records do not show Virgin Islands‑bound flights for Clinton [1] [4] [5].