Pritzker says Clinton 'clearly mistaken' after ex-president testified governor was aboard Epstein's aircraft

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker emphatically denied any ties to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday after former President Bill Clinton told a congressional panel he flew on Epstein’s plane with Pritzker and his wife, MK Pritzker.

Clinton’s testimony before the U.S. House Oversight Committee delivered an unexpected broadside to Pritzker, who is weighing a potential 2028 presidential bid, and unleashed a partisan backlash that ricocheted throughout Republican-favoring corners of social media.

In Chicago, Pritzker said Clinton was “clearly mistaken” and told reporters that, in fact, he never had any dealings with Epstein nor rode aboard any Epstein aircraft.

“I'd never even heard of Jeffrey Epstein until obviously the scandal that broke out in 2019,” Pritzker said.

Republicans on the U.S. House Oversight committee released video Monday of Clinton’s hours-long deposition, where Clinton mentioned Pritzker’s name while testifying that Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell were likely passengers on every flight he took on Epstein’s private jet.

Clinton has since retracted that part of his testimony.

In a statement posted on X, Clinton spokesperson Angel Urena said the former president was “simply giving an example of the many people he traveled with to see the Clinton Foundation’s work,” saying the governor joined the group on a 2008 trip.

“Not on Epstein’s plane. Not with Epstein. Not with Maxwell,” Urena said.

Despite Pritzker and Clinton’s swift denials, the former president’s deposition is making the rounds among conservatives online.

The Republican National Committee’s “X” account Monday evening uploaded a two-minute clip of Clinton saying many of the flights he took on Epstein’s plane were on behalf of his Clinton Foundation. He then name-dropped Pritzker when a member of the congressional panel asked Clinton whom he would bring along with him.

“I think that I had my first trip for the man who’s now the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, and his wife,” Clinton said. “They helped me get started.”

The clip has been shared by U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-IL; the Illinois GOP account; and several Republican state lawmakers.

Impeached former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich even weighed in, posting on his “X” account, “Ouch!... Will J.B. become the 2nd Pritzker to be “EPSTEINED?”

Pritzker, who is currently running for a historic third-term, had so far managed to steer clear of any public linkages to Epstein and Maxwell, though a cache of documents released last fall revealed deeper ties between Pritzker’s cousin, Thomas Pritzker, and the disgraced financier.

Thomas Pritzker, the billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels empire, has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing but stepped down as executive chairman of the hotel company’s board after his emailed interactions with Epstein were made public.

On Tuesday, Gov. Pritzker said he had traveled with Clinton, members of the Clinton Foundation and other “political types” in 2008 on a plane that his staff “tripled-checked” did not belong to Epstein, but instead was donated by Google.

A 2008 photograph by Getty Images shows Clinton and his daughter, Chelsea, holding babies at a rural health clinic in Rwanda as part of a Clinton Foundation effort. In the photo, a sunglasses-clad Pritzker can be seen walking behind the former president.

Pritzker said he and the foundation had been working on fighting AIDS and bolstering health care systems in many sub-Saharan African nations.

The governor called the Republican-fueled backlash from Clinton’s testimony a “wag the dog” moment that obscures the biggest question surrounding Epstein: What was Trump’s relationship with him and Maxwell?

“You know who palled around with both of them? Donald Trump did,” Pritzker said. “Donald Trump is known to have spent a lot of time with both of them, and yet he still hasn't owned up to it.”

Clinton’s congressional testimony came as Democrats in Springfield push for an independent commission to investigate Epstein-related crimes in Illinois or that involved Illinois residents.

The commission could subpoena witnesses with court approval and take testimony. It also could refer alleged crimes to the Illinois attorney general.

State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, D-Berwyn, the bill’s chief House sponsor, downplayed any chance the panel – if approved – would investigate whether Pritzker ever flew on Epstein’s jet. Rashid called any ties between the governor and Epstein "fictitious."

“Republicans are so intent on creating fictions to protect Trump and their friends,” Rashid said. “If they are concerned about anything that the Epstein files would reveal, I invite them to join this bill…so that we can actually shine a bright light on the Epstein class.”