Donald Trump’s signature Boeing 757 – often called Trump Force One – experienced mechanical issues last week and was grounded. The plane the Trump campaign used in its place was none other than a Gulfstream once owned by Jeffrey Epstein. Yes, that Jeffrey Epstein – the child sex trafficker and disgraced financier.
Trump flew from Bozeman, Montana (where his 757 first landed) to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Aspen, Colorado to make campaign stops aboard the cursed jet, according to the New York Times. Campaign officials say they were unaware of the jet’s history, and I’m inclined to believe them, but Jesus Christ, what a fuck up this is.
Apparently, the campaign called its charter jet vendor – Private Jet Services Group – after the mechanical issue to get a plane that could ferry the former president. They provided the Gulfstream. An official told the Times that the campaign had been using this vendor for years and that it would take steps in the future to avoid using the plane. Yeah, man, I hope so.
Here’s more from the New York Times on the dubious history of Epstein’s plane and Trump’s relationship with the child sex trafficker:
Over the weekend, viral social media posts highlighted the apparent connection to Mr. Epstein. A report by The Miami Herald on Monday matched the charter plane’s tail number to a Gulfstream jet once owned by Mr. Epstein.
Mr. Epstein’s planes have long been a source of public interest; he was known to travel with high-profile passengers, including Bill Clinton, Mr. Trump, Prince Andrew and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now running for president as an independent candidate. Mr. Epstein also brought young women — and girls, according to some who accused Mr. Epstein of sex trafficking — to entertain guests on board.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein had routinely crossed paths over the decades, attending many of the same social events and being photographed together in the 1990s and early 2000s. Mr. Trump spoke enthusiastically about their relationship in the years before Mr. Epstein pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful sex with minors. In 2002, Mr. Trump told New York magazine: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.”
Speaking in the Oval Office in 2019, Mr. Trump distanced himself from Mr. Epstein, saying that he’d “had a falling out with him.”
“I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years,” he added. “I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”
The Miami Herald also spoke with the Trump campaign, and they were told the plane was only used for that single day. Trump arrived at the Aspen-Pitkin Country Airport in the white and blue Gulfstream – tail number N550GP – around 4:45 p.m. on August 10. He was attending a fundraiser hosted by the Trump 47 committee, which sports Save America and the RNC.
The plane was registered in 2018 by one of Epstein’s companies based in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It should be noted that this was not the infamous “Lolita Express” which Epstein replaced around 2017. It has since been destroyed, according to the Herald.