Which high-profile US politicians flew on Jeffrey Epstein's plane and when did they travel?
Executive summary
Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs and subsequently released DOJ materials show two of the most prominent U.S. political figures—Bill Clinton and Donald Trump—appearing as passengers on Epstein-related aircraft at multiple points in the 1990s and early 2000s, with specific documented trips including a 2002 Africa trip carrying Clinton and a 13 August 1995 flight listing Donald Trump and his son Eric [1] [2]. Reporting and court documents vary on counts (Clinton’s appearances are reported in the teens to the high‑20s; Trump’s appearances are variously reported as six to eight times in the 1990s), and neither has been charged in connection with Epstein’s crimes in the publicly released records [3] [2] [4].
1. Bill Clinton — frequent passenger, including a 2002 Africa trip
Flight logs obtained and reported by multiple outlets place former President Bill Clinton aboard Epstein’s jets repeatedly after he left the White House, with counts reported as at least 17 flights in 2002–2003 and as many as 27 flights to a dozen international destinations in reporting based on flight records [5] [1] [6]. One high‑visibility entry cited in contemporaneous reporting describes an Epstein flight in September 2002 that carried Clinton alongside entertainers Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker to Africa—a trip publicly framed as connected to Clinton Foundation work in some accounts [1] [6] [5]. News outlets and flight‑log compilations repeatedly note Clinton’s multiple appearances, but also record that public documents do not allege he was involved in Epstein’s crimes [3].
2. Donald Trump — appearances in the 1990s, specific 1995 entry
Multiple releases of flight‑log material and a prosecutor’s email assembled by news organizations list Donald Trump as a passenger on Epstein‑owned or -operated aircraft several times in the 1990s, with counts reported as six to eight flights spanning roughly 1993–1997 [7] [3]. The BBC and DOJ‑linked materials specifically note a flight dated 13 August 1995 from Palm Beach (PBI) to Teterboro (TEB) that lists Donald Trump and his son Eric among passengers, and a prosecutor’s summary said Trump appeared on logs “including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case” while stressing no criminal allegation against him in that email [2]. Subsequent DOJ document releases and reporting reiterated Trump’s repeated presence on logs, while noting Trump has denied being on Epstein’s plane in some public statements and that documents do not equal criminal culpability [8] [4].
3. Other U.S. political figures and public officials in the records
Beyond Clinton and Trump, public reporting drawn from flight logs and related records lists travel by other public figures with political relevance: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. acknowledged travels with Epstein in interviews, and congressional probes and local reporting have flagged additional political donors and attendees at Epstein‑linked events, though the strongest, repeatedly cited flight‑log evidence centers on the two former presidents/leading politicians noted above [6] [5]. Many celebrity passengers named in media accounts (for example Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker) were included on trips where political figures were present, but available sources emphasize that inclusion on a flight log is not, by itself, evidence of knowledge of or participation in criminal activity [1] [5].
4. Reporting caveats: initials, redactions, inconsistent counts and agendas
The flight records and DOJ document dumps are uneven: logs often use initials or first names, pilot notes were sparse, entries are sometimes redacted, and counts cited by different outlets differ (e.g., 17 vs. 27 appearances for Clinton; six vs. eight for Trump), which leaves room for dispute over exact tallies and context [9] [5] [3]. Political actors and commentators have incentives to emphasize or downplay these appearances—oversight probes have focused on Democratic ties in some cases while conservative voices highlight Trump references, and media outlets have published varying tallies and framings—so parsing the raw logs and the limits of the public record is essential [5] [8].
5. Bottom line
The clear, document‑backed answer is that Bill Clinton and Donald Trump both appear on Jeffrey Epstein‑related flight logs: Clinton on multiple international flights including a documented September 2002 trip to Africa, and Trump on several flights in the 1990s including a recorded 13 August 1995 PBI–TEB flight that lists him and his son, with published tallies varying by source and with public materials stopping short of alleging criminal involvement by those politicians [1] [2] [3] [4]. The public record is robust about names appearing on logs but limited in establishing who knew what on each trip, and reporting differences and political agendas have shaped how those facts have been presented [5] [8].