Ghislaine Maxwell’s accuser ‘Jane’ recalls being driven to Donald Trump’s estate

Ghislaine Maxwell’s first accuser has recalled the moment Jeffrey Epstein drove her to meet Donald Trump in the 1990s.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s first accuser known as ‘Jane’ has resumed her testimony as the socialite’s defence team poured doubt on her version of events.

Maxwell is facing trial for child sex trafficking.

Jane said today that Jeffrey Epstein took her to Mar-a-Lago in the 1990s when she was a teenager to meet Donald Trump.

The woman said Epstein drove her to Mr Trump’s Palm Beach estate in a dark green car when she was 14 in 1994.

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There has been no suggestion in the trial - or anywhere else - that Mr Trump was aware of Epstein‘s sickening crimes.

She wasn’t asked to describe the meeting, and defense attorney Laura Menninger then moved on to an unrelated line of questioning.

Lawyer Laura Menninger later attempted to undermine the accuser’s memory in day three of Maxwell’s trial.

Ms Menninger said that Jane had given different accounts of her first meeting with Epstein and Maxwell at the Interlochen arts Academy in Michigan in 1994.

“You have come up with the memory in the last two years?” Ms Menninger asked Jane on the witness stand, to which Jane responded, “I don’t believe I have come up with memory, no.”

Ms Menninger then told the court that Jane does not recall whether Ms Maxwell ever touched her.

“That’s not true,” Jane said.

Jane then cried when she was asked about being awarded $5 million from a Jeffrey Epstein victim compensation fund.

The accuser paused for about 30 seconds and wiped tears from her eyes with a tissue after she was asked by a prosecutor to describe what the cash meant to her.

“I wish I would have never received that money in the first place because of what happened,” Jane responded, her voice breaking.

Witness "Jane" testifies during Ghislaine Maxwell's trial.

The woman said Epstein drove her to Trump’s Palm Beach estate in a dark green car when she was 14 in 1994.

Ms Menninger mentioned a conversation between Jane and her younger brother in which Maxwell was not mentioned, and said she also gave a news source with another account.

On Jane’s first visit to Epstein’s house Ms Menninger says that she testified she was alone but said she told the government that she was with her mother and brothers at the beginning.

Jane said she does not remember that.

“So the FBI got it wrong?” Ms Menninger replied.

In her testimony on Tuesday, Jane said that she had a difficult family life, but Ms Menniger is pointing to her application as stating that she comes from a “loving family”.

Jane’s ex-boyfriend, a fellow actor identified by the pseudonym “Matt,” also took the stand.

He’s testifying about what Jane, one of Maxwell’s accusers, told him about her relationship with Epstein.

Matt described his girlfriend of eight years as “shaken, embarrassed, horrified,” when she discussed her relationship with the pedophile.

“She would say, ‘Matt, the money wasn’t f–ing free,” but didn’t go into more detail, he said.

Ghislaine Maxwell seen with Jeffrey Epstein.

Ghislaine’s older brother, Kevin Maxwell, has joined sibling Isabel Maxwell to support their sister in court.

Jane said yesterday that she was 14 when the late US financier Epstein started sexually abusing her, and that Ms Maxwell was sometimes present and even participated.

Jane is the first of four alleged victims expected to testify in the trial of Maxwell, who is accused of grooming underage girls to be sexually exploited by Epstein. He committed suicide in a New York prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial.

The 59-year-old heiress has pleaded not guilty to six counts of enticing and transporting minors for sex. If convicted, she faces an effective life sentence.

Under questioning by US prosecutors, Jane said she met Epstein and Maxwell at a summer arts camp in Michigan in 1994, when she was 14 years old.

She said Maxwell and a terrier dog approached her while she was eating ice cream with friends.

After a while, her friends left. Epstein joined.

People gather to protest human trafficking at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse where the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell is being held.

Jane said the pair told her they were camp benefactors.

The then teenager’s father had died of leukaemia nine months earlier, she said. The family was bankrupt and had lost their home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Epstein and Maxwell told her they also lived in Palm Beach and asked for her phone number. She said she gave them her mother’s landline.

Epstein invited her and her mother to his mansion for tea a few days after she started eighth grade, telling her he likes to mentor young students, she testified.

Ghislaine Maxwell (L) and Jeffrey Epstein.

Jane said she started visiting Epstein’s home alone and that Maxwell was often present.

She said her mother was not invited on these visits that featured shopping — including for “basic” underwear at the lingerie chain Victoria’s Secret — movies and poolside hangouts.

Jane said she was 14 when Epstein first initiated sexual contact.

The money manager took her to his pool house and “proceeded to masturbate on me,” she said.

“I was frozen in fear. I’d never seen a penis before,” she said. “I was terrified and felt gross.” Speaking through tears, Jane said she didn’t tell anyone because she “felt ashamed.”

She said sexual encounters became routine after that.

Maxwell was sometimes present, instructing Jane on “how Jeffrey likes to be massaged,” she said.

Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts at Ghislaine Maxwell's townhouse in London.

Other times, Maxwell physically participated, on her own with Epstein or during “orgies” with other women, Jane said.

Maxwell acted “very casual, like it was very normal,” she said. “It made me feel confused.”

“It was very embarrassing. You have all these mixed emotions when you’re 14, you don’t know what’s going on.”

Jane said her mother urged her to “be grateful for the attention that I received,” and “seemed very impressed and enamoured with the wealth.”

The abuse continued for years, Jane told the jury, and included travel to Epstein’s luxury homes in New York and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

She cut off contact with Epstein in 2002, despite “agitated” voicemails.

The trial continues.

Originally published as Ghislaine Maxwell’s accuser ‘Jane’ recalls being driven to Donald Trump’s estate