Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker didn't travel on Jeffrey Epstein's plane, spokespeople clarify after Bill Clinton testimony

Dan Petrella, Chicago Tribune on Mar 3, 2026

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CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker never flew with former President Bill Clinton on a plane belonging to Jeffrey Epstein, spokespeople for the two Democrats said late Monday hours after video of Clinton’s testimony before a House committee was released, in which the former president suggested the pair had traveled with the financier before he was convicted of sex crimes.

Appearing before the House Oversight Committee behind closed doors on Friday, Clinton was asked about his use of Epstein’s private plane in the early 2000s, after the president had left office and while he was establishing the Clinton Foundation charitable group. Clinton told members of the committee that he never traveled alone on the plane, according to video of the sworn testimony, which lasted more than 4 1/2 hours and was released Monday.

“I had the Secret Service with me, and then, on occasion, I had people who had volunteered to help us and wanted to see what we were doing,” Clinton said. “For example, I think it was on one of these trips, I think, that I had my first trip for the man who’s now the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, and his wife. They gave me — they helped me get started. All a matter of public record.”

But Clinton’s last flight on Epstein’s aircraft, one which he traveled with Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell on foundation-related trips, was in 2003, according to testimony and flight logs. Pritzker’s trips with Clinton came years later, according to a spokesman for his campaign and a spokesman for Clinton.

“Governor Pritzker was asked to travel with President Clinton on two trips, once in 2008 and once in 2013,” Pritzker campaign spokesman Alex Gough said in a statement late Monday. “Neither utilized Jefferey Epstein’s aircraft, nor was he accompanied by that man or Ghislaine Maxwell.”

While a lack of clarity in Clinton’s statement and a lack of follow-up questions from members of the committee caused the confusion, Gough shifted the focus to members of the rival party after the Republican National Committee and figures in the Illinois GOP circulated clips of the testimony on social media.

“We understand that the GOP is desperate to deflect from the heinous accusations against President Trump in the Epstein Files, but this is a particularly weak effort to assign blame where there is none,” Gough said.

Pritzker is a longtime ally of the Clintons, having been a major backer of Hillary Clinton’s two presidential campaigns, including her 2008 primary race against hometown favorite Barack Obama.

A Clinton spokesman backed up the Pritzker campaign’s timeline of JB Pritzker and Bill Clinton’s joint travels in a social media post.

“President Clinton was simply giving an example of the many people he traveled with to see the Clinton Foundation’s work,” Angel Ureña, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, wrote in a post on X. That post also reshared the RNC’s initial post. which included Clinton’s comments from the testimony video. “Governor Pritzker joined a Clinton Foundation trip in 2008.

“Not on Epstein’s plane. Not with Epstein. Not with Maxwell.”

JB Pritzker’s name does not appear in the flight logs for Epstein’s airplane, which have been released publicly.

Still, that didn’t stop at least one of the Republicans running for the chance to challenge Pritzker in November from latching on.

“JB Pritzker has officially been named in the Epstein deposition by Bill Clinton,” video gambling magnate Rick Heidner wrote in a social media post. “I said that his cousin might have a problem because of Epstein. Now it looks like JB could be having problems with it too.”

Heidner, who is running against former state Sen. Darren Bailey, conservative policy advocate Ted Dabrowski and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick in the March 17 GOP primary for governor, was referring to Pritzker’s cousin Thomas Pritzker.

Thomas Pritzker last month announced he was stepping down as executive chair of Hyatt Hotels because of his “association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell which I deeply regret.”

The publicly released Epstein files show Thomas Pritzker was in regular contact with Epstein even after the financier pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to charges including soliciting prostitution from a minor.

JB Pritzker has said he isn’t close with his cousin, who was among the next generation of Pritzkers whom patriarch Jay Pritzker tapped to lead Hyatt and other family interests after his death.

The succession plan, which also named the governor’s sister, Penny Pritzker, and Jay Pritzker’s younger cousin Nick to help lead, precipitated an acrimonious breakup of the Pritzker family fortune in the early 2000s.

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