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In August 2025, a Fb consumer who mentioned he was a former Canadian Airways pilot claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump’s airplane flew to the late financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein’s island not less than 37 occasions.
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Epstein, who died in jail in 2019, owned the Nice St. James and Little St. James islands, a part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Prosecutors claimed Epstein trafficked underage women to Little St. James to hide the abuse of his victims.
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Nonetheless, we discovered no proof that the declare about Trump’s airplane flying to Little St. James was true. We couldn’t confirm that the Fb consumer who made the declare really labored for Canadian Airways, a service that Air Canada acquired in 2001. Alongside the declare, the Fb consumer shared an image of himself carrying what gave the impression to be a pilot’s costume from the web retailer Amazon.
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Reporting about Little St. James discovered that friends accessed the island both by boat or helicopter as a result of it did not have an airstrip, additional discrediting the declare that any of Trump or his companies’ planes would have flown to or landed there.
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Trump mentioned in January 2025 that he by no means visited Epstein’s island.
In August 2025, a declare (archived) circulated on-line, reportedly made by a retired Canadian Airways pilot, that U.S. President Donald Trump’s airplane flew to the late financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein’s island not less than 37 occasions.
Tom Crosby, the Fb consumer who first made the declare on Aug. 6, 2025, wrote:
I dont know, however each flight that flies is tracked by ATS. Donald Trump’s airplane flew to Epstein’s island not less than 37 occasions, tracked on radar. You are welcome. All flights anyplace are saved for ten years or extra. Retired pilot, Canadian Airways First Officer Tom Crosby
(Fb consumer Tom Crosby)
The declare was well-liked on Fb (archived). It additionally circulated on X (archived), Threads (archived) and Bluesky (archived). Snopes readers wrote in asking if the declare was true.
Nonetheless, we discovered no proof to show Crosby’s declare and additional analysis shed doubt on his alleged credentials. Commenters on Crosby’s publish identified that the pin he wore within the connected picture didn’t appear to be one belonging to Canadian Airways, a service that Air Canada acquired in 2001. Quite, the pin appeared to return from a pilot’s costume from the web retailer Amazon, which additionally included a white shirt with epaulets just like the one Crosby wore.
Commenters additionally requested for extra proof of Crosby’s declare, which we additionally didn’t discover reported in respected information sources (archived, archived, archived, archived). The declare would have been broadly reported if true. Crosby claimed “All flights anyplace are saved for ten years or extra,” an announcement we discovered troublesome to face up.
We reached out to Crosby to ask for proof of his declare and former employment with Canadian Airways. We additionally reached out to Air Canada to try to confirm Crosby’s claimed former employment. We reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the federal government company that regulates civil aviation within the U.S., to confirm Crosby’s claims about flight document retention. We await replies to our queries.
Trump mentioned in January 2025 he by no means visited Epstein’s island, which prosecutors alleged the financier used to hide the intercourse trafficking and abuse of underage victims. Epstein owned the Nice St. James and Little St. James islands within the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier than his dying in 2019. He used Little St. James to entertain distinguished friends from fields spanning politics, leisure and enterprise and had reportedly meant to develop Nice St. James with houses and different facilities.
Crosby’s declare departed from actuality
Upon inspection, components of Crosby’s declare appeared to discredit the concept that flight data existed to show that “Donald Trump’s airplane” flew to Little St. James Island 37 occasions.
Firstly, the Trump Group owns a number of planes and helicopters. Trump purchased a Boeing 727 in 1997 that had beforehand flown as a part of Trump Shuttle, Trump’s short-lived airline. He then changed the 727 in 2011 with the present Trump Pressure One. The Trump Group additionally owned a Cessna Quotation X that it offered in Could 2024. Crosby didn’t specify which plane his declare referred to. Moreover, Little St. James Island doesn’t have an airstrip. Quite, an investigation into guests to the island by the tech journal WIRED in 2024 discovered that folks arrived on the island both by helicopter or boat after flying to close by St. Thomas.
It was not potential to show Crosby’s secondary declare about “all flights anyplace” being saved for “ten years or extra.” Our analysis discovered the Division of Transportation required “Certificated air carriers,” which means carriers licensed by the DOT to hold passengers or cargo to retain “System report of airplane actions” for simply three years. We didn’t discover particular retention insurance policies for personal jets outdoors data regarding upkeep. “All flights anyplace” was additionally an especially broad assertion, as particular person nations have particular person businesses regulating air site visitors and document retention.
Reside information in regards to the motion of personal jets is usually public as a result of the plane depend on public methods like air site visitors management, lights and runways to function. Some flight monitoring websites mix publicly accessible information with (generally) non-public information in regards to the possession of personal plane to trace movie star jets. Nonetheless, it was unclear on the time of this writing how lengthy the FAA, the company that facilitates the gathering of this information, retained it.
Originator of declare adopted ‘anti-Trump’ tremendous PAC
Although our investigation discovered no proof to help Crosby’s declare, the profile that posted it gave the impression to be real, which means it belonged to an actual particular person versus AI slop accounts that unfold provably false claims from nameless platforms.
Crosby beforehand posted (archived) photos of himself that confirmed the identical particular person within the Aug. 6 picture. The account additionally tagged family and friends members in posts and posted persistently about the identical hobbies — normally indicators that an actual particular person is behind an account.
Crosby made roughly the identical declare a number of occasions (archived, archived) on Aug. 6, primarily based on native time in Regina, Saskatchewan, the place his Fb profile mentioned he was primarily based. On July 13, Crosby made an analogous declare (archived) that “We even have each flight log or boat that went to Epstein’s island.” Crosby posted these claims on numerous teams associated to the Meidas Contact Information Community, an impartial community that described itself as “pro-democracy.” The community grew out of an excellent PAC that beforehand supported former U.S. President Joe Biden’s marketing campaign.
On Feb. 15, 2025, Crosby posted (archived) that he was the “webmaster of the Meidas Contact information community.” Crosby was an administrator of not less than two Fb teams associated to the Meidas Contact Information Community. Rolling Stone described Meidas Contact in 2021 as “anti-Trump.”
In sum …
Although hypothesis continues to encompass Epstein and Little St. James island, we discovered no proof of the precise declare that “Donald Trump’s airplane” flew to Little St. James Island 37 occasions.
We discovered no proof that Tom Crosby, who posted the declare on pages associated to the “anti-Trump” information community Meidas Contact, was really employed by Canadian Airways as he claimed in his publish. Crosby wore a pin that was similar to at least one present in a pilot’s costume offered by Amazon in a picture accompanying the declare.
Although we wouldn’t have main proof within the type of flight logs for Trump’s airplane on the time, we do know that planes couldn’t land on Little St. James however moderately landed on close by St. Thomas. Whether or not Trump was on board or not, his airplane couldn’t have landed on Little St. James Island, making 37 flights to that vacation spot inconceivable.
Trump mentioned in January 2025 that he had by no means visited Epstein’s island. There had been no public proof on the contrary on the time of this writing.
Sources:
“14 CFR § 249.20 – Preservation of Data by Certificated Air Carriers.” LII / Authorized Info Institute, https://www.legislation.cornell.edu/cfr/textual content/14/249.20. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
14 CFR 91.417 — Upkeep Data. https://www.ecfr.gov/present/title-14/part-91/section-91.417. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
“About Us.” MeidasTouch Information, https://meidasnews.com/web page/about-us. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
BINQILIN Pilot Captain Costume Equipment Aviator Glasses Badge Hat & Tie Set Pilot Gown up Accent Set : Amazon.Co.Uk: Toys & Video games. https://www.amazon.co.uk/BINQILIN-Captain-Costume-Aviator-Accent/dp/B0BYMZBC14. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
“Boeing 727 VP-BDJ: The Unique Trump Pressure One.” MotoArt PlaneTags, 14 Jun. 2019, https://planetags.com/blogs/planetags-blog/boeing-727-vp-bdj-the-original-trump-force-one.
Hettena, Seth. “The Bother With MeidasTouch.” Rolling Stone, 8 Apr. 2021, https://archive.ph/yrlnb#selection-1495.0-1498.0.
“Jeffrey Epstein’s Personal Islands Put up for Sale for $125m.” BBC Information, 24 Mar. 2022. www.bbc.co.uk, https://www.bbc.com/information/business-60856925.
Jones, Michael Grabell, Sebastian. “Off the Radar: Personal Planes Hidden From Public View.” ProPublica, 8 Apr. 2010, https://www.propublica.org/article/off-the-radar-private-planes-hidden-from-public-view-040810.
Shalal, Andrea, and Nandita Bose. “Trump Says He Turned down Invitation to Epstein’s Island.” Reuters, 29 Jul. 2025. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-turned-down-invitation-epsteins-island-2025-07-28/.
Shepardson, David. “FAA Strikes to Defend Plane House owners Personal Info.” Reuters, 28 Mar. 2025. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/enterprise/aerospace-defense/faa-moves-protect-aircraft-owners-private-information-2025-03-28/.
Thompson, Polly. “Trump Seemingly Offered One in every of His Personal Jets to a Main Republican Donor.” Enterprise Insider, 30 Could 2024, https://archive.ph/Xtr8D#selection-1551.0-1564.0.
WIRED. “We Tracked Each Customer to Epstein Island | WIRED.” YouTube, 22 Nov. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjPHq-Ez0nc&t=141s.
