Fox News anchor Sean Hannity has made a controversial assertion that former President Donald Trump never travelled on the private aircraft of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This claim was made despite multiple official records showing Trump's name listed among the jet's passengers.
Interview Sparks Controversy Over Flight Logs
The statement was delivered during Hannity's prime-time interview on Tuesday evening with Republican Representative James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee. The discussion centred on the committee's investigation into Epstein's network and the refusal of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to comply with subpoenas to testify.
"I'm seeing pictures of Bill Clinton all over the place with young women... in Jeffrey Epstein's plane," Hannity remarked, referencing materials released by the Department of Justice. He then added, "Donald Trump never flew on the plane, from what I understand, either."
This declaration stands in stark contrast to documented evidence. Flight logs maintained by Epstein's pilot, David Rodgers, and released during the 2021 trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, repeatedly list Donald Trump as a passenger. The records indicate he flew with his then-wife Marla Maples and children Eric and Tiffany on several occasions in 1993 and 1994.
DOJ Documents Reveal Further Flights
More recently, a tranche of documents published under the Epstein Files Transparency Act included a January 2020 email from a federal prosecutor. The email, sent by an unnamed assistant U.S. attorney, stated that records from Epstein's jet showed Trump had flown on it "many more times than previously has been reported."
The prosecutor's message specified at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996 with Trump aboard, noting that Maxwell was present on a minimum of four of those journeys. This evidence appears to contradict a statement Trump himself made on his Truth Social platform in January 2024, in which he declared, "I was never on Epstein's Plane."
Political Focus and Unanswered Questions
The interview highlighted a clear political divergence in the committee's approach. While Chairman Comer has threatened contempt of Congress charges against the Clintons for non-compliance, no subpoena has been issued for Donald Trump to appear before the inquiry. This is despite well-publicised photographs of Trump and Epstein together at social events in Palm Beach prior to their reported falling out around 2003.
It is crucial to note that an individual's presence in the logs or files does not imply any wrongdoing, and Trump has not been accused of any crime related to Epstein, who died in jail in August 2019. However, the episode has fuelled ongoing questions about the extent of their past association.
The Department of Justice has so far published only a fraction of its Epstein-related materials, estimating it has reviewed roughly one percent of over two million documents. The deadline for full disclosure under the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed on 19 December 2025, leaving a vast amount of information still unreleased to the public.
