Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein: How Are They Connected?

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Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of sexually abusing girls for more than a decade, has been linked in the past to celebrities, prominent businessmen, politicians and, at one point, Prince Andrew of Britain.

But it is Mr. Epstein’s ties to two United States presidents, Bill Clinton and Donald J. Trump, that have drawn the most attention in recent days.

In 2002, Mr. Trump called Mr. Epstein a “terrific guy” in an interview with New York magazine. But on Tuesday, Mr. Trump told reporters he “was not a fan” of Mr. Epstein and that the two had a “falling out” and had not spoken for some 15 years.

Mr. Clinton has denied having a close relationship with Mr. Epstein. On Monday, Mr. Clinton’s office said in a statement that Mr. Clinton “knows nothing about the terrible crimes” that Mr. Epstein has been accused of, and that Mr. Clinton had not spoken to Mr. Epstein in more than a decade.

The former president has not been linked by prosecutors or officials to any of the current or previous accusations against Mr. Epstein.

Here’s what we know about Mr. Clinton’s ties to Mr. Epstein.

How did Mr. Epstein and Mr. Clinton know each other?

During his career in finance, both at Bear Stearns and when he struck out on his own, Mr. Epstein had a reputation for being intensely private.

But in 2002, the former president took a trip on Mr. Epstein’s private jet, which brought a flurry of media attention.

At the time, Mr. Clinton had been out of the White House for two years and had started the nonprofit group, the Clinton Foundation. Through his work with the foundation, Mr. Clinton connected with Mr. Epstein.

The ride on the private jet was part of a visit to Africa that Mr. Clinton made in order to discuss economic development on the continent and the ongoing fight against H.I.V. and AIDS.

“Jeffrey is both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science,” Mr. Clinton, through a spokesman, told New York magazine in 2002. “I especially appreciated his insights and generosity during the recent trip to Africa to work on democratization, empowering the poor, citizen service and combating H.I.V./AIDS.”

Mr. Epstein did not speak with New York magazine, but friends who were interviewed said that Mr. Epstein viewed his relationship with Mr. Clinton as an extension of his general networking philosophy.

“I invest in people — be it politics or science,” he told friends, according to the magazine. “It’s what I do.”

Was that the only trip?

In his statement on Monday, Mr. Clinton’s spokesman, Angel Ureña, said that Mr. Clinton took “four trips” on Mr. Epstein’s plane between 2002 and 2003 — one each to Europe and Asia, and two to Africa.

The trips all “included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation,” Mr. Ureña said, adding that Mr. Clinton’s staff, supporters of the foundation and Mr. Clinton’s Secret Service detail traveled with him on every leg of every trip.

Flight records published by Gawker in 2015 suggested that Mr. Clinton took at least a dozen separate flights on Mr. Epstein’s plane. A year later, Fox News reported that flight records showed President Clinton had flown at least 26 times on Mr. Epstein’s plane.

It was unclear how many individual flights were involved in each trip that Mr. Ureña mentioned and whether that may account for the discrepancy between the number he cited and what the flight logs show. Mr. Clinton’s office did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

The flight logs, posted online by Gawker, also record Mr. Clinton as being present on a domestic flight from Miami to Westchester County Airport in West Harrison, N.Y., which is near Mr. Clinton’s home in suburban Chappaqua.

Did Mr. Clinton visit Mr. Epstein’s homes?

Mr. Clinton visited Mr. Epstein’s New York apartment once around 2002, according to Mr. Ureña’s statement. The former president was accompanied by a staff member and his security detail.

He never visited Mr. Epstein’s palatial residence in Palm Beach, Fla., Mr. Ureña said, nor has he been to the financier’s ranch in New Mexico or his private island in the Virgin Islands.

Mr. Clinton may not have been present at Mr. Epstein’s Upper East Side home in more recent years, but his image apparently was. One person who visited Mr. Epstein’s townhouse last year told The New York Times they saw a signed photograph of Mr. Clinton behind a large dining table. Mr. Epstein also had photos of Woody Allen and Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, on display at the house, according to the visitor.

Additionally, New York magazine reported in 2003 that Mr. Epstein once threw a dinner party at the house in Mr. Clinton’s honor. The former president never showed, but the magazine reported that the other guests included Mr. Trump, the magician David Blaine and Doug Band, who was then an adviser to Mr. Clinton.

Are there any other ties?

Mr. Clinton had one other meeting with Mr. Epstein, in Mr. Clinton’s office in Harlem in 2002, according to Mr. Ureña.

At one point, Mr. Epstein’s personal phonebook, which was submitted as an exhibit in a court case against Mr. Epstein and was published by BuzzFeed in 2015, contained more than 20 numbers, emails and addresses to get in touch with Mr. Clinton, most of them listed under Mr. Band’s name.

Earlier this year, The Daily Beast reported that a charity organization formerly run by Mr. Epstein, the C.O.U.Q. Foundation, donated $25,000 to the Clinton Foundation in 2006. As of Tuesday, the foundation was named on a list of donors on the Clinton Foundation’s website.