Every Leg of the Flight

September 10, 2002. David Slade, Deputy Director of Scheduling for the Office of President William J. Clinton, sends an email to Ghislaine Maxwell.¹

The subject line: "Africa Trip Information."

The email is cc'd to Doug Band, Clinton's body man. It lays out the passenger manifest for a multi-country tour of Africa aboard Jeffrey Epstein's private Boeing 727 — leg by leg, name by name. Slade asks Maxwell to coordinate logistics. Dan Rather wants to bring a CBS crew for the Cape Town leg. And there's one phrase, tucked between the courtesies, that tells you everything about who was running this operation:

"Here is our proposed plane manifest (excluding your package) for the Africa trip."

Maxwell's group would travel separately. The manifest Slade sent was Clinton's people only.

The Manifestlink

Eight legs. Five countries. Seventeen days.

Count Kevin Spacey's legs. He's on every single one — New York through Johannesburg. Seven legs. The only leg he doesn't appear on is the final hop to London, which was Clinton's inner circle only.

Chris Tucker was also on the trip. The New York Post reported it at the time.

"Financial Wizard Jeffrey Epstein"link

The Post ran the story on September 25, 2002:

"Former President Bill Clinton is on a trip through Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique and South Africa with Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker... The three are being flown around Africa on the private plane of financial wizard Jeffrey Epstein."²

Financial wizard. That's what the papers called him then. A former president, an Oscar winner, a comedian, and a CBS anchor — all packed into a convicted sex offender's private jet, flying across a continent. It was in the newspaper. Nobody blinked.

The manifest names the other passengers too. Casey Wasserman — grandson of Lew Wasserman, the legendary MCA/Universal chairman — appears on every leg alongside Spacey. Rodney Slater, Clinton's former Secretary of Transportation, on every leg. Gayle Smith, Clinton's former NSC Senior Director for African Affairs. Ira Magaziner, architect of Clinton's healthcare plan, joining in Rwanda.

This was not a casual favor. This was a former president's full diplomatic apparatus — Secret Service detail, scheduling office, policy advisors — deployed on a sex trafficker's airplane. And the logistics email went to Ghislaine Maxwell.

Casey Wasserman and Maxwelllink

The Wasserman-Maxwell connection didn't end in Africa. The unsealed documents contain dozens of emails between Casey Wasserman and Maxwell from April 2003 — seven months after the trip.³

The emails are flirtatious. Wasserman exchanges "xoxo" sign-offs with Maxwell. He writes asking to "book that massage" during his next New York visit. Maxwell replies with teasing banter: "Ok, you will not have to share me with either a cheddar cheese, a baked bean or a kitkat."

Ninety-three documents in the corpus mention Casey Wasserman. Most are his correspondence with Maxwell. The grandson of Hollywood's most powerful man, on Epstein's plane with a former president, then swapping personal emails with Epstein's alleged madam.

Under Oathlink

In December 2009, attorney Bradley Edwards deposed Epstein's private pilot Larry Visoki on behalf of three women suing Epstein. Edwards asked about passengers who might have witnessed Epstein in the company of young girls.⁴

The Evening Standard reported Visoki's testimony:

"Visoki admitted Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, former Colombian president Andrés Pastrana Arango, Obama economic adviser Lawrence Summers, billionaire Ron Burkle, and actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker had been on board the plane while young girls were present."

Under oath. In a legal deposition. The pilot who flew these men named them specifically in response to a question about young girls.

Visoki swore he "never suspected his boss of having sex with them."

The Evening Standard's one-line editorial response: "Of course not, Larry. Now drive off into the sunset."

Visoki had received the title deeds to Epstein's 2003 Ferrari 575M Maranello.

"He Is Here w/ His Son Right Now"link

Five years after Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor. July 26, 2013.

Epstein emails his assistant Lesley Groff from his personal Gmail — jeevacation@gmail.com:⁵

"do we have any contact info for chris tucker"

Same day, Epstein follows up:

"see if he wants to stop by tonight before his show"

Groff replies:

"Chris Tucker would LOVE to stop by..he was thrilled to hear from you...I am texting him your address and house number...Chris is staying at the Hyatt and he says his show is like 7 or 8:00pm (he wasn't sure)"

Then the staff update that went out to Epstein's household:

"Chris Tucker will be stopping by to see JE sometime before his show tonight...no exact time was given."

And the follow-up:

"He is here w/ his son right now."

Chris Tucker brought his son to a registered sex offender's home. The staff logged it like a dentist appointment.

Eight days later, August 3, 2013:⁶

"Chris tucker called to say he will be in NY this Monday and wondered if you could do Dinner."

The FBI Knew the Nameslink

An internal FBI memo titled "Names in JE file" lists individuals who returned "positive case hits" in the Epstein investigation file.⁷ Three names from the Africa trip appear:

• Bill Clinton
• Kevin Spacey
• Chris Tucker

All three men who were publicly photographed together on Epstein's plane. All three returned positive hits in the FBI's own case file. The memo also lists Harvey Weinstein, Prince Andrew, David Copperfield, Naomi Campbell, Larry Summers, and Bill Gates.

The memo notes one other detail about Donald Trump: "one identified victim claimed abuse by Trump but ultimately refused to cooperate."

Spacey and Tucker are not annotated with any such qualifier. They are simply listed. Positive case hits.

What the Manifest Tells Youlink

The document that started this story — EFTA00578629 — is an email from a former president's scheduling office to a sex trafficker's alleged co-conspirator. It documents a sitting Academy Award winner on every leg of a transcontinental flight aboard a convicted predator's private jet. The pilot who flew them would later testify under oath that young girls were present on the same aircraft.

And the email's most revealing phrase isn't any of the famous names. It's three words buried in the second paragraph:

"Excluding your package."

Maxwell had her own group. The manifest was just the official side — the president, the Secret Service, the actors, the policy wonks. Whatever Maxwell was transporting separately didn't make the list that Clinton's office sent over.

The scheduling was handled through proper channels. The logistics were professional. The manifest was comprehensive. And it was all addressed to Ghislaine Maxwell.

This article is part of the Epstein & Hollywood research series. Next: One Hundred Dinners — Woody Allen and Jeffrey Epstein.

Sources & Documentslink

1. EFTA00578629 — Email from David Slade (Clinton scheduling) to Ghislaine Maxwell, September 10, 2002. Full flight manifest for Africa trip. View →
2. New York Post — "Clinton, Spacey, Tucker fly Africa on Epstein's jet," September 25, 2002.
3. EFTA00578844, EFTA00578861, EFTA00578813 — Casey Wasserman–Ghislaine Maxwell email correspondence, April 2003. View →
4. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013403 — Evening Standard, December 24, 2009. Report on Larry Visoki deposition. View →
5. EFTA00386787 — Chris Tucker email thread, July 25–26, 2013. Epstein arranges visit. View →
6. EFTA01963012 — Lesley Groff email, August 3, 2013. Tucker requests dinner. View →
7. EFTA00161528 — FBI internal memo, "Names in JE file." Positive case hits list. View →