Kevin Bass@kevinnbass
"I never went to his island." -- Bill Clinton, under oath, February 27, 2026
"say PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON was never on EPSTEIN's island" -- Jeffrey Epstein, to a trafficking victim
THE BILL CLINTON FILES: CLINTON'S FEB. 27 STATEMENTS UNDER OATH--VERSUS THE FACTUAL RECORD
On February 27, 2026, Bill Clinton testified under oath before the House Oversight Committee. He had been held in contempt of Congress one month earlier for refusing the subpoena. It was the first time a former president had been compelled to testify before Congress.
For four and a half hours, he was calm. Measured. Lawyerly.
He told them: "through my brief acquaintance with Jeffrey Epstein, though it ended years before his crimes came to light, and though I never witnessed during our limited interactions any indication of what was going on, I'm here to offer what little I know" [00:16:00].
He sounded reasonable. To anyone who hasn't read the documents.
765 DOJ documents say otherwise. Every quote below is verbatim. I will prove it. Document by document.
I. THE REASONABLE MAN
Listen to how Clinton told the story.
He said the introduction was academic. Larry Summers called: "a man named Jeffrey Epstein who had made a substantial commitment of several million dollars... and he wanted to spend some time talking to me about economics and politics" [00:24:40].
He described the relationship as distant: "We were friendly, but I didn't know him well enough to say we were friends" [00:58:48].
He said the contact was limited: "Usually only on the trips. I did go to his house once" [00:58:58].
He said the conversations were professional: "I don't believe we ever talked about anything but the work we were doing" [01:00:51].
Sounds like a former president who had a passing acquaintance with a philanthropist. Now read the documents.
Maxwell told DOJ attorneys under oath: "they met because of me and the plane was because of me" [DOJ-OGR-00022795]. Not Summers. Not Harvard. Maxwell -- the woman convicted of sex trafficking.
Clinton told Congress: "I don't believe I met her when I was President" [00:31:06]. Maxwell's own proffer: "I went to the White House with Epstein once for, I think it was for a historical, like one of those benefits and I met the President then" [DOJ-OGR-00022543]. She met him during his presidency, at the White House, with Epstein.
And by December 2001 -- before the plane trips even began -- Clinton was already texting Maxwell from a Cingular mobile device, tagged "(WJC wjc)" in every header: "Let me know when you do come home so we can play" [EFTA02333865].
He did not meet her through humanitarian work. He was chasing her.
II. THE MESSAGES
Clinton told Congress: "I don't believe we ever talked about anything but the work we were doing" [01:00:51].
Clinton told Congress: "I never talked to her on the phone more than twice in my life" [02:38:09].
Clinton told Congress: "She was very interested in CGI. I remember that. And that's it" [02:38:33].
The documents show 147 personal messages between Clinton and Ghislaine Maxwell -- the woman convicted of sex trafficking for Jeffrey Epstein.
These are not business emails. These are not charity logistics. These are sexually explicit messages between a former president and a convicted sex trafficker.
Clinton to Maxwell: "you are my pimp but that at the same time, you are my lover" [EFTA02332252].
Clinton to Maxwell: "I like naughties" [EFTA02332254].
Clinton to Maxwell: "I want to spank bottoms tonight" [EFTA02333884].
Clinton to Maxwell: "I did the same old blonde last night, boooorring" [EFTA02332316].
Clinton to Maxwell, about another woman: "she is hot looking." Maxwell replied: "I have decided to have a jealous rage" [EFTA02335614].
Clinton to Maxwell: "tied up, not like I was last night" [EFTA02332329].
He described encounters with a "big boobby widow" [EFTA02332259]. She responded: "ALMOST ENOUGH INFO TO STOP ME FANCYING YOU" [EFTA02333515]. She asked: "When did we get married and how many kids do we have?" [EFTA02335667]. He wrote: "We have to have alone time soon" [EFTA02333676]. She wrote: "I would love some private time" [EFTA02333598].
He shared his full travel schedule with her [EFTA02333866]. He authorized her to plant press stories: "you can put that out as much as you like then my dear" [EFTA02333873]. He asked her to keep secrets: "Pls don't my dear, I don't want her to think I am chatty" [EFTA02333882].
The messages repeatedly reference Epstein directly. Maxwell to Clinton: "JE wants to know if you want to come to breakfast before church" [EFTA02333574]. Maxwell to Clinton: "I am w/JE and he is flying back" [EFTA02333565]. Clinton to Maxwell: "Pls tell je I just had a good chat with leon" [EFTA02333712]. Clinton asks for guest bios for an event "at je's house" [EFTA02333294].
One message in particular: Maxwell to Clinton: "Good place for you to pick up chicks! All good girls that go to church!" [EFTA02335695].
It was not just Clinton. Doug Band -- Clinton's chief of staff and closest aide -- was also in a sexually charged relationship with Maxwell. Maxwell to Band, 3 AM: "Carol and I were plotting disgusting things with your body" [EFTA02333108]. Band to Maxwell: "boobihead miss you say hi to jeeeeeeffffffffrey" [EFTA02332772]. Band used Maxwell's connection for Clinton's benefit: "imp for wjc/me to get her taken care of" [EFTA02332671].
And the message that shows how the chain worked: Band to Maxwell: "the pres wanted me to tell you to tell jeffrey he says hello and he misses him. Maybe dinner or drinks late next week" [EFTA00578457].
Everything Band saw at Epstein's house, heard from Maxwell, or learned about the operation was one conversation away from the President.
When Congress showed Clinton the "spank bottoms" message, he squinted and said: "It says this email is silly. I want to spank bottoms to involved. Who's it from?" [02:52:47]. He pretended he couldn't read his own text.
When asked if he sent the messages: "I never sent one email on it... I think Doug thought it would increase his cachet" [02:48:10]. He blamed his aide.
When asked if he shared a BlackBerry with Band: "Well he says we did but I think he's stretching that" [02:48:27].
147 messages. "I don't believe we ever talked about anything but the work we were doing."
III. THE FLIGHTS
Clinton told Congress he took "all or part of four or five trips" on Epstein's plane [00:22:57].
His own pilot, under oath, said otherwise.
Pilot Larry Visoski, testifying under oath: "ten or twenty times" [386-02].
A second pilot, David Rodgers, confirmed Clinton on the 2002 flights with unidentified young women on board [EFTA00159180].
The handwritten pilot logs list Clinton under three name variations: "BILL CLINTON," "PRESIDENT CLINTON," "WELLIAM J. CLINTON" -- alongside Chris Tucker, Nicole Junkermann, and Cendy Lopez [DOJ-OGR-00015916].
The formal flight records: 26 individual flight segments across 6 trips, February 2002 to November 2003 [EFTA01335688].
Clinton told Congress: "I have never signed off Secret Service protection" [03:12:23]. The flight logs show Secret Service agents absent from at least 5 flight segments [EFTA01335688].
But when they were present, they were repurposed. From the shared Clinton-Band device to Maxwell, February 2002: "We will take you guys from phils to the plane obviously in our motorcade" [EFTA02333868]. The presidential protective detail, used to shuttle Maxwell to Epstein's plane.
Epstein, in an email: "my plane was set up for the Clinton trips -- $7 million" [EFTA00919204].
You do not spend $7 million configuring an aircraft for someone who takes four trips.
FBI evidence CDs from Epstein's safe contain folders labeled: "Clinton Far East." "Clinton St Trop Morocco Nude Far East." "JE Clinton on 727, GM, Mali, Twintowers" [EFTA00159789]. Organized video archives of Clinton's trips, stored in a safe, alongside folders marked "Nude" and "Girl Pics Nude."
The most devastating flight-related finding comes from Brad Edwards, the victims' attorney, questioning Epstein under oath: "Clinton was traveling on your plane at the same time you were paying for VR to travel to Thailand" [EFTA00841357].
Clinton was on Epstein's plane while Epstein was simultaneously paying for a victim to travel to Thailand. The presidential flights and the trafficking were concurrent operations on the same aircraft.
"Four or five trips."
IV. THE NAMES HE DOESN'T KNOW
The committee showed Clinton names from Epstein's operation. Watch the pattern.
Lesley Groff -- Epstein's executive assistant who scheduled every visitor to every property for over a decade. She was copied on emails arranging Clinton's own visits [EFTA00918742]. Clinton's pilot testified she was present for his flights [386-02].
Clinton, under oath: "I'm sorry, I don't know who that is" [00:36:18].
Jean-Luc Brunel -- the model scout later arrested and charged with sex trafficking as part of Epstein's operation. The handwritten pilot logs list "BILL CLINTON" and "JEAN LUC BRUNEL" as passengers on the same flights [DOJ-OGR-00015916]. Three Epstein associates took the Fifth rather than answer questions about Brunel and Clinton [1328-44].
Clinton, under oath: "I don't know who that is. I don't believe" [00:36:32].
Nadia Marcinkova -- one of Epstein's most prominent alleged co-conspirators. When asked under oath: "Have you witnessed improper sexual activity between Jeffrey Epstein and minors, while he was in the presence of Bill Clinton?" her answer was: "Fifth" [1328-44].
Clinton, under oath, described Maxwell's role: "I thought she was sort of his chief of staff or administrator" [00:30:48].
Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking. She was not an administrator.
Clinton didn't know the scheduler. Didn't know the model scout on his flights. Didn't know what the convicted sex trafficker actually did. He claims to have spent years in this orbit and to have noticed nothing and no one.
That is not ignorance. That is a strategy.
V. THE ISLAND
Clinton told Congress: "No" [01:06:02]. He denied visiting Epstein's island at least five times during the deposition.
At least four independent witnesses say otherwise.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, sworn testimony given three separate times: "We all dined together that night. Jeffrey was at the head of the table. Bill was at his left. I sat across from him. Ghislaine was at Bill's left and at the left of Ghislaine there were two olive-skinned brunettes who'd flown in with us from New York. I'd never met them before. I'd say they were no older than 17" [036-10]. "Were sexual orgies a regular occurrence on the island?" "Yes" [1090-16]. Epstein told her Clinton "owed me favors."
A second witness, identified in the record as 435-09: "Former President Bill Clinton was present on the Island at a time when I was also present" [435-09].
A third victim, documented in an FBI FD-302, places Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Tipper Gore on the island [EFTA01699136].
Two days before Epstein's death, a fourth victim called the FBI and described "big orgy parties" with Clinton on the island [EFTA01249520].
Handwritten notes from September 2005 list a "Clinton Guest list" at LSJ -- Little St. James, Epstein's island [EFTA00007585].
From the shared Clinton-Band device to Maxwell, August 2002: "Island looks unlikely for me. Going with wjc on a brief vacation" [EFTA02333889]. The island was a standing invitation.
While publicly denying Clinton was ever there, Epstein privately admitted it. In a September 2015 email, while drafting a denial strategy, he wrote in parentheses: "(me flying him)" [EFTA02487405].
He was writing a press statement denying he flew Clinton to the island. In the same document, in parentheses, he acknowledged doing exactly that.
Even Epstein's own attorney Dershowitz privately doubted it: "worried you are mistaken and that Clinton might have been on the Island" [EFTA00864877]. Maxwell, in her DOJ proffer, caught herself mid-sentence: "a flight that came from the island from -- not from the island" [DOJ-OGR-00022916]. Two lines later, unprompted: "the ex-president never came to the island."
He coached witnesses. He told a victim directly: "say PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON was never on EPSTEIN's island" [EFTA01246874].
The word Clinton repeated under oath -- "No" -- is the word Epstein coached a trafficking victim to say.
"I never went to his island."
VI. WHAT HE SAW
Clinton told Congress: "I saw nothing that ever gave me pause" [01:18:25].
Clinton told Congress: "I did go to his house once" [00:58:58]. Just one house, one time.
A DOJ prosecution memo from March 2011 -- "Preliminary Investigation of Additional Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein" -- states: "President Bill Clinton came to Epstein's house several times and received erotic massages, although not from her, and at least one of these happened while he was still president. Some of these encounters occurred in Palm Beach, some in New Mexico, some in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and some in Europe" [EFTA01249058]. Four locations. While still president.
The WJC-Maxwell messages show Clinton attending dinners at Epstein's New York residence. He curated guest lists: "eric schmidt is founder of google" [EFTA02333297]. He messaged Maxwell: "Pls tell je I just had a good chat with leon" [EFTA02333712]. Another time: "bringing the brit to je's" [EFTA02333820].
The evidence that Clinton was at Epstein's homes is in Clinton's own messages. "I did go to his house once" [00:58:58] -- four locations says the prosecution memo.
A victim traveled to Africa with Clinton, Epstein, and Maxwell. At the hotel on that trip, according to an FBI FD-302: "EPSTEIN told [her] to go up to her hotel room and take a shower because she had been traveling." He then assaulted her. Clinton was in the hotel [EFTA01245656].
Giuffre described naked photos of young girls openly displayed in the villa during the island dinner where Clinton was present [1090-16]. An independent witness -- Dr. Bledsoe, a doctor on the Africa trip, not a victim -- noted unexplained young women on the plane [EFTA00173826].
Clinton's own characterization of the young women he saw: "I never saw anybody do anything wrong. I thought they were flight attendants" [02:26:44]. Epstein's plane had no flight attendants. The young women on board were trafficking victims.
A separate victim, in a proffer to federal prosecutors, said she "met President Clinton on different trip" and that he was "on the plane a lot, and a lot happened on that plane" [EFTA01248576].
When pressed further: "On this big plane that was working long hours, having two to four people on there, I thought was... as far as I know they were of age" [03:58:36]. "As far as I know they were of age" is not the language of a man who saw nothing.
When asked about Chauntae Davies -- an identified Epstein trafficking victim -- giving him a massage on the plane, Clinton said: "You've seen the pictures. There was one time when I was sitting up and I got a back rubber... And I think Shantae did it, but I'm not sure" [01:05:47]. He received a massage from a trafficking victim on a sex trafficker's plane and characterized it as a neck rub.
Alan Dershowitz -- Epstein's own defense attorney -- testified under oath that Clinton was "offered underage girls for sex" but "turned them down" [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_010757]. Even the defense lawyer's best-case scenario: Clinton was in a situation where underage girls were being offered.
Confronted with Epstein's statement to a witness that Clinton "likes them young," Clinton said: "That I have any interest in underage" [03:55:43]. The questioner pressed: "I didn't say underage. I said young." Clinton reached for the word "underage" when nobody used it. That is not a denial. That is a tell.
Three Epstein associates were asked under oath whether they witnessed sexual abuse in Clinton's presence. All three took the Fifth [1328-44].
The FBI's own internal case index flagged Clinton for "salacious information" [EFTA00161528]. A prosecution strategy memo listed Clinton among "individuals with significant knowledge" of Epstein's crimes [EFTA00098755]. Prosecutors themselves made that assessment.
Epstein's people used Clinton's name to intimidate victims [DOJ-OGR-00000639] and to recruit them. A 17-year-old was told "Bill Clinton and Allen Dersuwitz would also be aboard the Lolita Express" -- $800 an hour [EFTA01244950]. Clinton's name was used to lure a teenager onto the plane.
"I saw nothing."
VII. THE MACHINE
Asked whether, with the benefit of hindsight, there were things he witnessed that could have suggested Epstein was trafficking young women, Clinton said: "I do not believe so" [01:19:24]. Asked whether he ever volunteered information to law enforcement: "I didn't know enough to volunteer" [00:50:49].
This is the biggest story in the dataset. Not the sex. Not the flights. The cover-up.
90+ documents show a coordinated information warfare campaign to suppress the truth. It ran from January 2015 through at least March 2019 and involved lawyers, journalists, newspaper owners, coached witnesses, and Clinton's own former White House Counsel.
Within 72 hours of the Giuffre allegations going public, Epstein activated a multi-vector denial operation.
Epstein to journalist Michael Wolff: "clinton was NEVER EVER there, never" [EFTA00866974].
Wolff to Epstein: "Is Clinton willing to say he was not there?" [EFTA00866985].
The same briefing was sent to Wolff [EFTA00867022], to Mort Zuckerman, owner of the NY Daily News [EFTA00867023], and to a NYT journalist "off the record" [EFTA00867017]. Three journalists, one newspaper owner, one talking point. Coordinated.
Epstein coached witnesses. He drafted denial statements for his ex-girlfriend [EFTA01789311], his pilot [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021808], and Maxwell [EFTA00638130]. Point 5 of his 8-point "joint defense agreement": "she knows clinton was never on the island" [EFTA02348919]. He offered bounties to disprove Giuffre's testimony, identifying her Clinton island dinner account as "the strongest" claim against him -- meaning it was the hardest to disprove [EFTA02373048].
He told a victim directly: "say PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON was never on EPSTEIN's island" [EFTA01246874].
He made the Clinton denial the center of his entire defense. To Maxwell: "I am convinced your statement should be about the Clinton story being easily disproved" [EFTA00865888]. And again: "Ok, tie it to the easily disproved Clinton" [EFTA00866995]. Clinton was not collateral damage. He was the load-bearing wall of the defense strategy.
Epstein told his own lawyer why: "the only thing that can be proven, is that her story re clinton is totally made up... as it is the only non he said she said argument" [EFTA00865969]. Every other allegation -- the abuse, the trafficking, the orgies -- he could not disprove. Only the Clinton denial could be defended.
In his most desperate moments, the defense collapsed into a single sentence. To Maxwell, 2:41 AM: "I am not a pedophile, you are not a child abuser... you never flew clinton on a heli" [EFTA01837250]. Three denials. One breath. The Clinton cover and the sex crime defense were the same operation.
Then there is Kathryn Ruemmler. She was Obama's White House Counsel. Then Clinton's personal lawyer. And she was on Epstein's legal team -- simultaneously.
Clinton, under oath, described Ruemmler as merely: "a lawyer who has done some, on occasion, some help for the Foundation. I don't believe I would discuss Ms. Maxwell with her" [00:44:22].
Ruemmler to Epstein: "Clintons are so happy with me" [EFTA02394779].
Ruemmler offered to call David Kendall -- Clinton's personal lawyer -- to coordinate the denial for Epstein: "I can call David Kendall, his longtime lawyer and a longtime friend of mine" [EFTA02385431]. She confirmed: "Left a message" [EFTA02348207]. Three weeks later, Epstein followed up: "kendall?" [EFTA02512164].
Ruemmler drafted ABC News suppression letters using the Clinton island denial as "readily provable" [EFTA02503892]. She placed stories with Jeffrey Toobin at The New Yorker [EFTA00822947] and called Epstein "our friend Jeffrey" [EFTA02610284].
She was Clinton's lawyer and Epstein's operative at the same time. She is the mechanism connecting Clinton's official denial to Epstein's legal defense.
The most telling detail: Epstein told Ruemmler in January 2016: "I stopped talking to Clinton when he swore the exact opposite to me" [EFTA02473045]. Clinton lied to Epstein about something -- and Epstein knew it was false. Clinton was constructing a false narrative before the public denials even began.
Sandy Berger -- Clinton's former National Security Advisor -- called Epstein 18 days before a raid that was described as having been "cleaned up" [Letter-InCamera-Sep2025].
And the relationship didn't end when Clinton says it did.
Clinton told Congress: "The last time I remember was with him was sometime in 2003" [03:33:46]. Epstein's crimes became public in 2005-2006.
Through intermediaries, the contact continued -- 2010, 2011, 2013 [EFTA02431960; EFTA00903517; EFTA02371081]. Post-conviction. Every year.
Then it went direct.
March 2016: Epstein's schedule notes: "i have a call with clinton at 1230" [EFTA00831113]. Eight years after conviction.
October 2017: "Did Clinton change his mind." Response: "No. Working on dates" [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_027250].
February 2018: Epstein to Ruemmler: "do you think Bill Clinton would like to join you me ehud and Larry for dinner... all off the record" [EFTA02521747]. "All off the record" -- both sides knew.
A decade of post-conviction contact. Fifteen years after he says it ended. "The last time I remember was sometime in 2003" [03:33:46].
The denial chain is complete. Epstein coached it. Maxwell repeated it. Ruemmler drafted it. Clinton's spokesman echoed it. And on February 27, 2026, the former president repeated it under oath before Congress -- a cover story written by a convicted sex offender.
The man who said he "didn't know enough to volunteer" [00:50:49] instead helped build the machine that made sure nobody could.
THE EVIDENCE LOCKER
Photos: Clinton getting a neck massage from an Epstein victim [EFTA00037125]. Clinton and Maxwell boarding Epstein's plane [EFTA00037126]. Clinton, Mick Jagger, and Epstein at dinner [EFTA00003379].
Deutsche Bank classified Epstein as a Politically Exposed Person because of his "close relationship with Ex Clinton" [EFTA01420713].
And a $1 million wire to Maxwell for something called the "Clinton Project" [EFTA00579174]. Never explained.
THE SCORECARD
Bill Clinton made 81 testable claims under oath. We checked every one. 67 are contradicted: 18 disproven, 24 misleading, 18 disputed, 7 implausible. 2 confirmed. 107 DOJ documents. Every quote verbatim.
He said "brief acquaintance" [00:16:00]. 147 sexually explicit messages with a convicted sex trafficker.
He said "four or five trips" [00:22:57]. His own pilot said ten or twenty [386-02].
He said "No" to the island -- five times [01:06:02]. Four witnesses, Epstein's own admission, and a coached victim denial.
He said "I did go to his house once" [00:58:58]. A DOJ memo documenting erotic massages at four locations while he was still president [EFTA01249058].
He said "I do not believe so" when asked if he saw signs of trafficking [01:19:24]. Dershowitz testified he was offered underage girls [HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_010757]. Three associates took the Fifth [1328-44].
He said "sometime in 2003" was the last time [03:33:46]. Contact continued until at least 2018 [EFTA02521747].
He said "I didn't know enough to volunteer" [00:50:49]. His own lawyer helped build Epstein's denial campaign [EFTA02394779].
And when Congress asked: "Have you ever lied under oath in a deposition?" Clinton said: "No" [02:20:40].
In 1999, he was found in civil contempt for giving "intentionally false" testimony under oath. Fined $90,000. Law license suspended. Surrendered it on his last day in office.
He has done this before. And he just did it again.
765 DOJ documents. 81 sworn statements. 67 false.
Bill Clinton lied under oath. To Congress. That is a federal crime.
