'Not on Epstein's plane': JB Pritzker rejects allegations after Clinton testimony

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has denied any association with deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and instead, similar to the Clintons, redirected the spotlight towards President Donald Trump. "I have never met Jeffrey Epstein. I have never traveled with Jeffrey Epstein. I was never on any plane with Jeffrey Epstein or with Ghislaine Maxwell. Never met her," Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, told reporters at a press conference in Chicago. 

The Governor's remarks follow the Clintons' hearing before a House Oversight Committee, in which former president Bill Clinton faced intense questioning regarding his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein; several pictures, including one of the former president lounging in a hot tub with someone else, were also shown during the hearing. At one point during the questioning, Clinton said, "I think that I had my first trip through the man who is now the Governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, and his wife. They helped me get started."

"President Clinton clearly was mistaken, and he corrected the mistake," Pritzker told reporters. A Clinton aide, Angel Ureña, retracted the former president's statement. "Clinton was simply giving an example of the many people he traveled with to see the Clinton Foundation’s work," Ureña posted on X. "Governor Pritzker joined a Clinton Foundation trip in 2008. Not on Epstein’s plane. Not with Epstein. Not with (Ghislaine) Maxwell."  

Asserting that he "never met" Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, the Illinois Governor attempted to shift focus to the President. "I was never on any plane with Jeffrey Epstein or with Ghislaine Maxwell. Never met her," Pritzker said, before quickly adding, "But you know who was? Donald Trump was." He added that Trump "is clearly somebody who needs to be investigated." 

The White House has consistently maintained that President Trump severed ties with Epstein in the mid-2000s and has had no contact with him since. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson has said on record that "by releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee's subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein's Democrat friends, President Trump has done more for Epstein's victims than anyone before him."

Clinton, who became the first former president to testify before lawmakers, said he "had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing." As lawmakers continued to grill the former president for nearly four hours, questioning all the times he had been mentioned or photographed in the Epstein documents, Clinton maintained that he was unaware of Epstein's crimes. Clinton also said that Trump knew Epstein well, and recalled an alleged conversation he had with the President: "[Trump] never said anything to me to make me think he was involved in anything improper with regard to Epstein either. He just didn't. He just said: 'We were friends and then we had a falling out over a land deal, property deal.' That's all."