Bill Clinton issues Jeffrey Epstein statement

Former President Bill Clinton claimed in a statement Monday that he knows nothing about the pedophilia charges filed against financier Jeffrey Epstein.

A spokesman for the former president, who flew on Mr. Epstein’s Boeing 727 more than 20 times, said in a statement first reported by Fox News, that he “knows nothing” about the “terrible crimes” linked to Mr. Epstein.

The statement downplayed the extent of Mr. Clinton’s ties to the accused pedophile and said the trips had been tied to work with the Clinton Foundation.

“Staff, supporters of the foundation, and his Secret Service detail traveled on every leg of every trip. He had one meeting with Epstein in his Harlem office in 2002, and around the same time made one brief visit to Epstein’s New York apartment with a staff member and his security detail. He’s not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and he has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida,” it said.

Mr. Clinton, according to a 2016 Fox report citing court documents, flew on the tricked-out “Lolita Express” plane 26 times.

According to that Fox report, trips from 2001 to 2003 “included extended junkets around the world with Epstein and fellow passengers identified on manifests by their initials or first names, including ’Tatiana.’”

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The jet also was “reportedly outfitted with a bed where passengers had group sex with young girls,” Fox reported.

President Trump also reportedly flew once on the Lolita Express and, in a 2002 interview, acknowledged social contact with Mr. Epstein.

“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Mr. Trump told New York magazine at the time, years before his political career.

• Jeff Mordock contributed to this report.