Get you up to speed: What Sky News Reveals About the Connection Between Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein
CLINTON EPSTEIN RELATIONSHIP
Sky News verified photo evidence of Bill Clinton’s numerous connections with Jeffrey Epstein during Clinton’s presidency, including joint travels for Clinton Foundation events.
CLINTON FOUNDATION
Bill Clinton’s spokesperson, Angel Urena, confirmed that the former president visited Epstein’s New York residence in 2002, amid numerous Foundation trips that included Epstein.
CURRENT STATUS
Sky News has verified numerous photographs of Bill Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein during Clinton Foundation trips, confirming details of their relationship across multiple locations and times.
What we know so far
Sky News has uncovered new details about the timings and locations of photographs featuring Bill Clinton and paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, forming a comprehensive timeline of their relationship.
The photos, included in the Epstein files and verified by Sky’s Data and Forensics team, were taken on numerous Clinton Foundation trips where Epstein was present.
The former US president has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has said he did not know about the sex offender’s crimes. Being included in the Epstein files does not imply wrongdoing.
White House in 1993. Pic: William J Clinton Presidential Library”>In 1992, records show Epstein donated $2,000 to Mr Clinton’s successful presidential campaign on 30 January and 8 June – a small fraction of the $62m his campaign raised overall.
After being sworn in as president in 1993, Mr Clinton was pictured in September with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell after an event for donors to a White House restoration project.
The event was said to have been for donors and records list Epstein and Maxwell donating $10,000 to the White House Historical Association the same day as the event. Hillary Clinton hosted the event with her husband Bill Clinton.
Freedom of information (FOI) records show that Epstein visited the White House 17 times from 1993 to 1995.
In 1996, Mr Clinton was re-elected for a second presidential term.
A few years later in 1999, records from the Federal Election Commission show Epstein donated $20,000 on 29 October to Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign. This donation shows no suggestion of wrongdoing.
In 2001, Bill Clinton left office, creating the Clinton Foundation, with the mission to “strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence”.
In 2002, Mr Clinton visited Epstein’s New York residence once, as confirmed by Mr Clinton’s spokesperson Angel Urena.
Sky News has verified numerous photographs taken on Clinton Foundation trips where Epstein was present.
In May 2002, Mr Clinton set off for his trip around Asia for the Clinton Foundation on Epstein’s plane. They visited, Russia, Singapore, China, Bangkok and Brunei in a three-day period.
These photos were taken on 25 May 2002 at Don Mueang International Airport, then with pictures at Wat Phra Kaew, a Buddhist temple.
Thumbnails show what appears to be Epstein’s plane on the platform at the airport.
Many pictures from the Asia trip were already public but have been verified for the first time by the Sky News Data and Forensics team. Using images released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Sky News analysed photo thumbnails alongside enlarged photos, to locate and date certain photos on this timeline, cross-referencing them with flight logs and email exchanges.
This set of photographs was in Brunei in the Emperor suite at the Empire Hotel.
The suite is a luxurious accommodation that spans 665 square metres (over 7,000 square feet) and features a master bedroom, private dining area, swimming pool, sauna, steam room, grand piano, and a cinema.
An article in Vanity Fair on Epstein placed a photo of the two on a plane on the Brunei trip. Another photo released by the DOJ shows Mr Clinton in the same seat, with the same clothes, holding his arm around a redacted girl. This photo does not imply any wrongdoing.
A few months later, in July, Mr Clinton and Epstein were pictured together at the royal wedding of King Mohammed VI in Morocco on 12 July 2002. Flight logs show they flew back to Santa Maria together the following day.
Thumbnails from an album released by the DOJ, labelled “Morroco king wedding”, show Mr Clinton on Epstein’s plane.
In Santa Maria on a stopover, before going on a Clinton Foundation trip around Africa, Mr Clinton is pictured with someone who was later identified as one of Epstein’s victims. She is massaging his shoulders in Santa Maria airport. No Epstein victim has accused Mr Clinton of wrongdoing.
At the end of September 2002, Mr Clinton embarked on his Africa trip, alongside Epstein. The trip included locations such as Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique and South Africa.
In the same year, Mr Clinton commented on Epstein in New York Magazine that he “appreciated his [Epstein’s] insights and generosity during the recent trip to Africa to work on democratisation, empowering the poor, citizen service, and combating HIV/AIDS”.
After this trip, Mr Clinton ended up flying to London with Ghislaine Maxwell and other passengers.
Mr Clinton and Epstein visited London in September 2002. Photos verified by Sky News place Mr Clinton at 10 Downing Street and the Churchill War Rooms, alongside Maxwell and others, including the actor Kevin Spacey. Being included or pictured in the files is not evidence of wrongdoing.
A year later, Epstein’s Birthday Book was created by Ghislaine Maxwell. The book is described as a bound collection of birthday letters compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday. A message signed ‘Bill Clinton’ was left in the book. It praised Epstein’s ‘childlike curiosity’ and ‘drive to make a difference’.
Later that year in November, another Clinton Foundation trip took place in the Far East, once again using Epstein’s jet.
Photos verified by Sky News show Mr Clinton at dinner with Epstein, Maxwell, Mick Jagger and Doug Band in China. The photos can now be placed at China Club restaurant in Hong Kong, a private members’ club.
Flight logs published in the Epstein files show Mr Clinton was in Hong Kong between 6 and 9 November.
On 7 November, the Rolling Stones had a concert in Hong Kong at Tamar Site for the Harbour Festival. Footage from that night shows Mr Clinton was in attendance. Following this, pictures released by the DOJ show backstage photos of this concert where it appears Epstein was also in attendance.
Continuing their relationship, in 2010, Ghislaine Maxwell was a guest at the wedding of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s daughter Chelsea.
Hillary Clinton was questioned about Maxwell attending the wedding during her deposition with the House Oversight Committee. She stated she knew Maxwell “casually as an acquaintance”, and that Maxwell “came as the plus one, the guest, of someone who was invited”.
Bill Clinton has always denied any wrongdoing. In 2019 after Epstein killed himself in jail while facing sex trafficking charges, a Clinton spokesman said that he “knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York”.
“In 2002 and 2003, President Clinton took a total of four trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s airplane: one to Europe, one to Asia, and two to Africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation.”
The Data x Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.