Former President Bill Clinton denied knowing anything about the “terrible crimes” allegedly committed by billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In a statement released Monday, Clinton said he took four trips with Epstein in 2002 and 2003: one to Europe, one to Asia and two to Africa.
All were in connection with the Clinton Foundation, his family’s charitable organization, he said, and the two were accompanied by foundation employees and the U.S. Secret Service.
Clinton also said he met Epstein at his Harlem office in 2002 and later went to the financier’s apartment with a staff member and security detail.
Clinton also said he has not spoken to Epstein in “well over a decade” and “has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico or his residence in Florida.”
The complete statement appears below:
However, Clinton’s statement is contradicted by the actual flight manifests, which show the former president may have taken as many as 26 flights on Epstein’s plane between 2001 and 2003, The Daily Beast noted.
When Gawker first published the flight logs in 2015, it reported that Clinton shared “more than a dozen flights with a woman who federal prosecutors believe procured underage girls to sexually service Epstein and his friends and acted as a ‘potential co-conspirator’ in his crimes.”
Epstein is accused of paying dozens of girls as young as 14 to engage in sex acts with him in his homes in New York and Florida from 2002 and 2005.
Authorities allege he “conspired with others” to sexually abuse and exploit the girls, and paid his victims to recruit others, court documents say.
Although Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges and registered as a sex offender in Florida as part of a sweetheart plea deal with U.S. attorneys in Miami, he received very little jail time and was allowed work release.
In November, the Miami Herald published a three-part exposé identifying 80 women who said they were abused by Epstein. The investigations also revealed the accused’s relationships with high-profile people, including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
The Miami Herald had reported that Clinton often flew in Epstein’s private plane and visited Little St. James Island but also said there was no evidence connecting the former president or Trump to Epstein’s crimes.
This story has been updated with details about Epstein’s flight logs.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article mistakenly referred to Epstein by the first name Jerry instead of Jeffrey.