Former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump faced renewed scrutiny this week as old flight logs reemerged, showing they took frequent trips with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein aboard his notorious private jet, known as the “Lolita Express” due to Epstein’s sexual involvement with underage girls.
The 118-page flight log obtained by Atlanta Black Star, which became public during the 2021 trial of Epstein’s closest associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was circulated Monday on social media, a day before a New York court was due to unseal records revealing the names of 175 people with close ties to the deceased pedophile.
In December, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska determined there was no legal basis for continuing to withhold the names of individuals linked to Epstein and ordered the documents to be unsealed in January.
Attorneys for persons named in the documents were given the chance to examine the files before their release and present arguments to keep them confidential.
Notably, Clinton’s legal team raised no objections to the public disclosure, according to Newsweek.
The release comes nearly five years after the 66-year-old disgraced money manager was found hanged in a New York jail cell in 2019 — a little more than a month after he was arrested and charged with sex trafficking countless girls, some as young as 14 years old.
The behind-the-scenes involvement of two U.S. presidents underscored the extent of Epstein’s influence with some of the world’s most rich and powerful people despite his sleazy reputation.
A number of voices on social media recalled that Clinton and Trump’s names appeared repeatedly in dozens of flight logs, proving they traveled regularly with Epstein.
However, the flight logs do not indicate whether Trump or Clinton landed on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean that served as the base of his international sex-trafficking ring.
Clinton took at least nine trips on Epstein’s private jet to major global destinations, including Paris, Bangkok and Brunei. During his presidency, Clinton hosted Epstein at the White House on at least 17 separate occasions.
Despite his close friendship with Epstein, Clinton continues to deny any involvement with Epstein’s sexual crimes targeting young girls.
Flight records show Trump took at least seven trips aboard the private jet between 1993 and 1997 when he was a New York real estate developer. At the time, Trump and Epstein were seen as close associates as they were often seen together at public events.
The soon-to-be-released court documents, meanwhile, are widely expected to deliver a bombshell as Clinton, Trump, and other prominent names could be potentially exposed as participants in Epstein’s double life.
Clinton maintains that he broke off his relationship with Epstein after his wealthy pal was convicted of sex crimes in 2008 and served 13 months in a Florida prison.
Clinton released a statement in 2019 upon Epstein’s arrest, claiming he had “not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade” and that he knew “nothing about the terrible crimes” in which Epstein was accused.
It’s not clear if the documents would implicate the former presidents criminally, although there was growing speculation over whether Clinton would be identified as “John Doe 36,” who was mentioned more than 50 times in a 2015 civil lawsuit filed by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.
Other names on the flight logs include criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, former Democratic Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, who was stripped of his royal patronage in 2022 after he became a defendant in Giuffre’s civil claim.
Maxwell remains the only person so far to face criminal charges in the unspeakable sex trafficking operation.
The 62-year-old former British socialite has been locked up since July 2, 2020, when she was taken into custody in Bedford, New Hampshire, as part of a federal investigation into Epstein’s crimes.
During the trial, prosecutors argued Maxwell was a central figure in Epstein’s secret life of crime, in which she helped him procure and sexually abuse hundreds of young girls for more than a decade, with Maxwell serving as a madam-type figure in the conspiracy.
She was convicted in December 2021 for conspiring with Epstein and sentenced to 20 years in prison the following year.
