Campaign says it learned from media that Trump jetted to events in Jeffrey Epstein's plane

Donald Trump had a busy travel weekend attending fundraisers in Wyoming and Colorado, but with his Boeing 757 ‘Trump Force One’ out of commission due to mechanical issues, the Republican presidential nominee used a jet once owned by his old neighbor Jeffrey Epstein, the Miami Herald reported Monday.

Problems with the plane forced Trump to land in Billings, Montana, as he was heading to Bozeman, a Trump staffer confirmed to the Herald. After taking a small plane to a rally in Bozeman, Trump chartered the Gulfstream jet with a matching serial number to Epstein's plane and took his final flight in.

“The campaign had no awareness that the charter plane had been owned by Mr. Epstein,” the Trump staffer told the newspaper. “We heard about the former owner through the media.”

ALSO READ: Trump’s smear job climaxed prematurely — and now he’s stuck

Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker who died in prison of an apparent suicide in 2019, was a neighbor of Trump’s in Palm Beach. Trump’s relationship with Epstein has come under heavy media scrutiny, but Trump has never been formally implicated in Epstein’s crimes.

Epstein’s former jet plane is now owned by Threshold Aviation Group, an Ontario company. While using the jet this weekend, Trump’s campaign stuck a “Trump 2024” on the side of the plane, according to the Herald. Trump flew the jet to fly from Bozeman, Montana, to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and then to Aspen, Colorado, the Herald reports.