(The Center Square) – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he never met Jeffery Epstein and was never on a plane with the late sex offender.
The governor made the remarks in Chicago on Tuesday and said former President Bill Clinton corrected his mistake after suggesting that Pritzker had flown with supporters and Clinton Foundation donors on Epstein-connected flights.
“President Clinton clearly was mistaken, and he corrected the mistake,” Pritzker said.
The governor said he had never met Jeffrey Epstein.
“I was never on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane. I was never on any plane with Jeffrey Epstein or with Ghislaine Maxwell,” Pritzker said.
The U.S. House Oversight Committee questioned Clinton over his ties to Epstein in a closed-door hearing in New York last Friday.
The former president was asked if Epstein was on every flight he took that was connected to the former sex offender.
“There will be a record of it, but I think he was or certainly on most of them,” Clinton said.
The former president was then asked who he normally brought on the flights.
“I think it was on one of these trips, I think, that I had my first trip for the man who is now the governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, and his wife. They gave me, they helped me get started,” Clinton said.
Former Clinton staffer Angel Ureña clarified the former president’s remarks.
“President Clinton was simply giving an example of the many people he traveled with to see the Clinton Foundation’s work. Governor Pritzker joined a Clinton Foundation trip in 2008. Not on Epstein’s plane. Not with Epstein. Not with Maxwell,” Ureña posted on social media.
Andrew Rice contributed to this story.
