Trump knew Epstein ‘stole’ young women, including Virginia Giuffre, from Mar-a-Lago
Washington: US President Donald Trump has acknowledged sex offender Jeffrey Epstein “stole” young women from the spa at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, including American-Australian victim Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide this year.
The president, who has been under sustained pressure to release more files from the Epstein investigation and detail his own knowledge of his former friend’s activities, revealed he knew Epstein was poaching young women from Mar-a-Lago and gave him a warning.
After telling reporters in Scotland that he threw Epstein out of the club in the 2000s because the financier “stole people” who worked for him, Trump was asked on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) whether the people in question were young women.
“I don’t want to say, but everyone knows the people that were taken,” he said initially. “The concept of taking people that work for me is bad. But that story’s been pretty well out there – and the answer is yes, they were [young women].”
Trump went on to say: “In the spa, yep, people that worked in the spa. I have one of the best spas in the world at Mar-a-Lago and people were taken out of the spa. Hired, by him. In other words: gone. Other people would come and complain: ‘This guy is taking people from the spa.’
“When I heard about it, I told him, I said, ‘Listen, we don’t want you taking our people,’ whether it was spa or not spa. I don’t want him taking people. And he was fine, and then not too long after that, he did it again, and I said, ‘Out of here.’ ”
Virginia Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen, when she said she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, among others.Credit: TNS via Getty Images
Asked whether they included Giuffre, Trump replied: “I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so, I think that was one of the people, yeah. He stole her.”
Trump added: “And by the way, she [Giuffre] had no complaints about us, as you know – none whatsoever.”
Giuffre was one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers. In lawsuits, she alleged she was spotted and hired by Epstein’s girlfriend and later employee, Ghislaine Maxwell, while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in the year 2000, the year she turned 17.
She said she was trafficked by Maxwell and Epstein, and forced to have sex with men such as Prince Andrew of the British royal family. Andrew has always denied those claims; the two reached an out-of-court settlement in 2022, and Andrew was stripped of royal duties.
Donald Trump and his future wife, Melania, with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000.Credit: Getty Images
Giuffre, who was then Virginia Roberts, escaped Epstein and Maxwell’s clutches in 2002 after being sent to Thailand to attend a massage school. She met and married Australian man Robert Giuffre, and relocated to Australia. She died by suicide on April 25 of this year at her farm in Neergabby, north of Perth, aged 41.
“She lost her life to suicide after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,” her family said in a statement at the time. “She was the light that lifted so many survivors. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright.”
Trump’s latest remarks, made on board Air Force One as he returned to Washington, represent his fullest explanation to date about why he and Epstein fell out in the 2000s. Trump has always maintained that he did not know about Epstein’s alleged crimes.
Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution with a minor in a 2008 plea deal, and spent 18 months in a minimum security prison, with day leave. In 2019, he was found dead in a New York prison cell while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide and authorities say there is no evidence to the contrary, despite persistent conspiracy theories.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring with Epstein to exploit and abuse girls. Her lawyers said on Wednesday (AEST) that their client was seeking immunity in exchange for complying with a subpoena to testify before US Congress.
A spokeswoman for the committee that wants to interview her responded with a terse statement, saying it would not consider offering her immunity.
Prince Andrew with Giuffre (centre, then Virginia Roberts) and Epstein’s then personal assistant Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001.Credit:
Meanwhile, Trump indicated he was open to settling his lawsuit against News Corp’s The Wall Street Journal over a story it published this month reporting that he signed a letter to Epstein for the financier’s 50th birthday in 2003, in a book organised by Maxwell.
Trump’s lawyers yesterday sought an urgent deposition from News Corp’s chairman emeritus Rupert Murdoch, who is named as a co-defendant.
“I would have assumed that Rupert Murdoch controls it, but maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t,” Trump said on Air Force One.
“They are talking to us about doing something, but we’ll see what happens. They would like us to drop that [case], and so we’ll see. They want to settle it.”
Dow Jones, the News Corp subsidiary that publishes the Journal, has previously said it stands by the story and will “vigorously defend any lawsuit”.
With AP
If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue on 1800 512 348, Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or the National Domestic Family and Sexual Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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