How many total flights for Donald Trump and Bill Clinton are listed across all publicly released Epstein flight logs?
Executive summary
Publicly released Jeffrey Epstein flight logs are internally inconsistent and have been reported with varying tallies: most mainstream reporting places Donald Trump’s appearances at about seven to eight flights, while Bill Clinton’s listings are reported as either 17 flights (in some contemporaneous compilations) or roughly 26–27 flights in other releases — producing a combined total that, depending on which count is used, ranges roughly from 24 to the mid-30s [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. The core question and why it seems simple but isn’t
On its face the question — “How many total flights for Donald Trump and Bill Clinton are listed across all publicly released Epstein flight logs?” — asks for a single numeric sum drawn from a single, settled record, but the public record is fractured: multiple batches of documents were released at different times, some reports count “legs” rather than round trips, others aggregate trips or list names inconsistently, and media summaries rely on different unsealed suits and DOJ releases, so a single authoritative line-item sum is not present in the sources reviewed [4] [5] [6].
2. What major outlets reported for Donald Trump’s flights
Several respected outlets treating the unsealed records and DOJ releases concluded that Trump flew on Epstein’s planes multiple times in the 1990s, with Reuters reporting a January 2020 prosecutor email saying flight records “showed Trump had flown on Epstein’s private jet eight times during the 1990s” and describing a flight where the only passengers were Epstein, Trump and a 20-year-old woman whose name was redacted [1]; other reporting and compilations cite seven or eight flights in the logs made public during litigation and later DOJ dumps [2] [4].
3. What major outlets reported for Bill Clinton’s flights
Reporting on Clinton’s entries in the logs is the most divergent. Several outlets and the flight-logs material first unsealed in civil litigation documented Clinton on at least 17 flight legs during 2002–2003, framed as part of four international trips with entourage and Secret Service present [7] [2] [4] [5]. Other summaries and fact-checks, however, report higher tallies: FactCheck and earlier summaries cited Clinton being listed about 26 times on Epstein’s plane across multiple trips between Feb. 2002 and Nov. 2003, and contemporaneous notices referenced counts of 26 or 27 listings in different compilations [3] [8] [9].
4. Why different counts exist in the public record
Differences arise from counting methodologies and source documents: some reports count “legs” (each takeoff/landing) while others count “trips” or “sojourns,” some releases were redacted or partial, earlier court-filed logs differed from later DOJ batches, and media outlets summarized what they believed to be the most reliable document set — which varied across time [4] [6] [10]. Political actors have also amplified certain numbers for rhetorical effect — for example, claims of “27 or 28” by political opponents — which further muddied public perception though those larger figures are reported as assertions rather than settled document tallies [7].
5. The best-supported numerical ranges and the combined totals
Using the most commonly cited contemporary counts yields a defensible range: Trump is consistently reported as appearing on Epstein’s logs seven to eight times (Reuters and Palm Beach reporting) and Clinton between 17 and about 26 times depending on whether one counts legs or entries from different releases — therefore the combined total across publicly released flight logs falls roughly between 24 (Trump 7 + Clinton 17) and about 34 (Trump 8 + Clinton 26), with variations if one accepts higher contested claims such as “27–28” for Clinton that some speakers have advanced [1] [2] [3] [4].
6. What cannot be confidently stated from available public files
It cannot be asserted from the provided sources that any single definitive consolidated ledger exists unambiguously reconciling every entry from every court and DOJ release into one agreed number; sources differ on methodology, and some document releases remain redacted or were compiled under different legal actions, so the precise single-digit total depends on which release and counting method a researcher accepts [6] [10] [4].