Report: Flight logs back up governor’s claims
Wednesday, Mar 4, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Background is here and here if you need it. Mark Maxwell dug into the flight records for two flights that JB Pritzker was on with Bill Clinton. No Epstein connection to either. Here’s one example…
In August 2008, Clinton led a large Clinton Foundation delegation to sub-Saharan Africa to highlight the foundation’s work on HIV/AIDS, malaria and economic development. Contemporary reporting by the Chronicle of Philanthropy documented the trip in real time.
The aircraft used for that trip was a Boeing 767, tail number N2767. Pritzker’s campaign says Google provided the aircraft as an in-kind contribution for the Clinton Foundation’s work.
Epstein pleaded guilty on June 30, 2008, and began serving an 18-month sentence in the Palm Beach County jail shortly thereafter. By the time the Clinton Foundation delegation departed for the sub-Saharan nations on July 28, Epstein had already entered custody.
There is no evidence in flight manifests or FAA records tying that Boeing 767 to Epstein. Publicly available logs associated with Epstein’s aircraft do not show his plane in the same airports on the same dates as the Africa trip.
Read the rest if you need to.
Also, nobody has found Gov. Pritzker’s name on any Epstein-related flight logs, and those logs have been pored over for years.
* On to the partisan react. ILGOP…
Two of my cousins are in prison. That doesn’t make me a criminal. And when the governor says he isn’t close to his cousin, this is why, as explained by the Tribune…
The publicly released Epstein files show Thomas Pritzker was in regular contact with Epstein even after the financier pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to charges including soliciting prostitution from a minor.
JB Pritzker has said he isn’t close with his cousin, who was among the next generation of Pritzkers whom patriarch Jay Pritzker tapped to lead Hyatt and other family interests after his death.
The succession plan, which also named the governor’s sister, Penny Pritzker, and Jay Pritzker’s younger cousin Nick to help lead, precipitated an acrimonious breakup of the Pritzker family fortune in the early 2000s.
* Darren Bailey…
* James Mendrick…
* DuPage GOP…
* Back to Bailey and the Clintons…
If he’s trying to hide a paper trail, he didn’t do a very good job because it was FOIA’d.
What it does show, though, is how close Pritzker was to AIPAC back in the day. He’s recently denounced the group…
The Governor’s feeling on AIPAC’s abandonment of their principles remains the same. Just because they donate to certain Democrats doesn’t change the fact that they are heeding the words and direction of Jared Kushner and other Trump acolytes.
- Google is Your Friend - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 8:51 am:
==* James Mendrick…==
By the “Mendrick Standard,” since there is sworn testimony about misconduct by police and prosecutors in DuPage County, everyone there should be subject to a full investigation. Can’t wait to see it.
- ChicagoVinny - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 8:57 am:
The Governor and Bill Clinton are both going to be at Rev Jesse Jackson’s service, I imagine the Governor may have some words for Bill in private.
- Just Me 2 - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 9:12 am:
Is Bailey suggesting that communicating with political groups needs to be done on taxpayer e-mail systems? Hmmm….let’s ask Lee Daniels how well that worked for him.
- Name Withheld - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 9:13 am:
“A FOIA document catches JB Pritzker asking Clinton’s team to keep their correspondence off government server.”
You mean …
“JB Pritzker follows ethics laws regard non-government communications conducted via government email 8 years before running for office.”
Fixed it for you, Darren.
- short memory - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 9:19 am:
Asking to be sure a political message is sent to a non-government email shows he was of following ethics laws and trying to avoid using government emails for a political purpose.
That’s being ethical, not shady, Mr. Bailey. Do better.
- SOIL M - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 9:21 am:
No credible source has linked JB to Epstein
- Steve - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 9:21 am:
I can’t believe the Epstein situation is even an issue in Illinois. But, here we are.
- CA-HOON! - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 9:34 am:
== Mr. Bailey. Do better. ==
Get ready to be disappointed.
- Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 9:44 am:
==I can’t believe the Epstein situation is even an issue in Illinois. But, here we are. ==
It’s being made an issue by the GOP based on an already corrected mis-statement.
BTW, if the statement had been true, it would have been one flight to Africa with a group supporting health care on the continent. If that one flight constitutes an “issue” what does DJT’s decades of friendship and interaction count as?
- Sir Reel - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 9:51 am:
Republicans search for any infinestimal connection between JB and Epstein while ignoring the obvious Trump-Epstein connection. What a surprise.
- H-W - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 10:07 am:
My question of yesterday is answered. Bailey 1.0 has emerged and taken up the Epstein lies.
Bailey has an easy path to the nomination, and if he were wise, he would know that doing the same thing a second time doesn’t change the result.
Bailey could rise above the Epstein stupidity, run a smarter campaign, and perhaps get more votes than last time. Is it possible Bailey doesn’t actually want to govern and that he only wants to be remembered as someone who ran and lost bigley twice? Time will tell. But this path is worn, and it leads nowhere.
- Charles Edward Cheese - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 10:17 am:
We live in a post truth society, unfortunately no amount of debunking and evidence will make this truly go away. This smoke will follow JB. It will be amplified by the right-wing media apparatus, will be regurgitated by right-wing candidates who are “just asking questions”, and on and on and on.
As they say “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes”.
Great job Bill /s
- Homebody - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 10:28 am:
Never let the facts get in the way of a good attack ad, right?
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 10:36 am:
- Is it possible Bailey doesn’t actually want to govern -
He absolutely doesn’t, this is all about attention. No one in the Eastern Bloc has any interest in governing.
- here we go again - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 10:41 am:
More proof that Darren Bailey doesn’t belong anywhere near a statewide office. #UnsafeAtAnySpeed
- Amalia - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 10:49 am:
AIPAC used to be the gold standard for support in the Jewish community. Things have gotten really twisted with the aftermath of the Oct. 7 tragedy.
- EvilStevel - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 11:08 am:
It’s not surprising that Bailey seems to be taking the position that government property should be used for personal gain. After all, he never publicly had an issue with all of Trump’s violations of the Hatch Act when he was campaigning from the White House… these are deeply unserious people who need to be called out at every opportunity.
- Loop Lady - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 11:19 am:
We all have our weaknesses…JB included.
I’m very happy to see that he had nothing to do with Epstein.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 12:09 pm:
=will be regurgitated by right-wing candidates who are “just asking questions”, and on and on and on.=
And yet, no questions for trump who was mentioned thousands of times and appears in endless photos and videos. Are they just accepting his guilt?
- levivoted4judy - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 12:19 pm:
A 79 year old man got confused? That never happens. There must be more to it.
- Johnny T - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 12:38 pm:
I believe Pritzker when he says he was not on the plane or the island, and that President Clinton was in sincere error that he got the flights mixed up.
I believe Hilary Clinton that she was never on the island. She’s too smart to lie about this.
I don’t fault the republican response to Clinton’s statement. I would imagine that if it was President Bush accidentally implicating a prominent Republican Governor, we would see a similar reaction.
I believe that Trump did not break the law at the island.
I think Pritzker’s attempt to redirect at Trump was not necessary, as it was Clinton, and not Trump, that implicated him (which, I believe, was a sincere error). Clinton was not part of a right wing conspiracy, and the reaction was the same if you flip the parties under oath.
Hopefully, the truth comes out in a non-partisan way, but I’m not optimistic.
- Sox Fan - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 12:58 pm:
The content of JB’s email, not the type of email addresses it was sent to/from, is what will be the lingering problem for the Gov.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 1:31 pm:
In my opinion?…it was a set-up…the Epstein Class hangs together in order to avoid hanging separately.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 1:39 pm:
given what’s already been released, what they’re still hiding must be worse than the public can even imagine.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 1:54 pm:
I had an image of Mark Maxwell digging with a shovel…nonstop!
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 1:58 pm:
Is it clear now?…the Civil War came to an end…but the war was never over.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 2:13 pm:
The content of JB’s email, not the type of email addresses it was sent to/from, is what will be the lingering problem for the Gov.=
Only for those looking to be outraged. 16 years ago AIPAC didn’t have the same rep they do now.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 2:33 pm:
Our politics has degenerated and regressed to a gossipy Seventh Grade level…pity.
- H-W - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 2:42 pm:
On another Bailey note, does the 2010 dating of this email exchange suggest something, such as Pritzker was not a government official at the time, do the is Much Ado about nothing?
Be smarter Mr. Bailey. There is no duck here.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 3:00 pm:
Desperation grasps at straws…because that’s all that’s left.
- Keeping IT Real - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 3:41 pm:
=Is it clear now?…the Civil War came to an end…but the war was never over.=
Huh? What does that even mean? And do you get paid by the post? 6 of the last 8 comments are random one liners from you.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 5:37 pm:
this kind of thing muddies the waters forever. see pizzagate as an example that came up again in comments from the unhinged about Hillary’s testimony.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 8:12 pm:
- 6 of the last 8 comments are random one liners from you. -
Please feel free to skip my mysterious comments.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 8:22 pm:
- Huh? What does that even mean? -
Try harder.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 8:56 pm:
Nothing is random in the greater order.