Former magazine editor Tina Brown has revealed her explosive reaction to receiving a dinner invitation at Jeffrey Epstein's home shortly after his initial conviction, an event she immediately branded the 'Predator's Ball'.
The Shocking Dinner Invitation
Brown, who previously edited both The Daily Beast and Vanity Fair, recalled the moment a publicist contacted her following Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. 'Tina, I want you to come to this great dinner at Jeffrey Epstein's house, and the other guests are Charlie Rose, Woody Allen and Prince Andrew,' the publicist reportedly said.
The invitation came despite Brown's publication having run articles about Epstein's crimes, making the request particularly outrageous. 'I yelled into the phone: "What the hell is this — the Predator's Ball?"' Brown told The New York Times. 'I was outraged that she hadn't seemed to have read our pieces.'
Epstein's Initial Obscurity
Brown explained that when she first began reporting on Epstein in the 2010s, he was relatively unknown to the general public. 'At the time that we published, Epstein wasn't that well known. It was kind of an insider social story... how times have very much changed,' she noted.
The articles her publication ran after Epstein's 2008 conviction generated so little attention that the dinner invitation came as a particular shock. Brown immediately declined, telling the publicist: 'I've printed pieces about this guy. No, thank you very much. I decline. I don't want to have dinner at Jeffrey Epstein's house.'
Insights into Ghislaine Maxwell
Brown also shared her perspective on Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for procuring girls as young as 14 for Epstein. She described Maxwell as appearing to be 'an abused figure herself' during their interactions, which occurred when 'Epstein was slightly in her rearview mirror.'
'I think with Epstein, she was mad about him. And the only way she felt she could get into his good graces was to participate in — and in the end, curate — his abuse of young women,' Brown analysed. Despite this understanding of Maxwell's complicated position, Brown was unequivocal about her punishment: 'She deserves to rot in that prison for a very long time.'
Political Implications and Trump Connection
Brown expressed that she 'wouldn't be surprised at all if on his way out Trump does pardon her, when MAGA no longer counts.' However, she added that 'if he did it now, there would be a real uproar.'
This commentary comes amid recent developments where Trump revealed he would consider a pardon request for Maxwell, stating: 'You know I haven't heard that name in so long, I can say this that I'd have to take a look at it... I will speak to the DOJ about it.'
The political pressure on Trump has intensified following the release of emails from Epstein to Maxwell, including one from 2011 that mentioned Virginia Giuffre spending 'hours at my house with' Trump. Giuffre, who was recruited by Maxwell while working as a spa attendant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in 2000 when she was just 16, died earlier this year.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has dismissed the email release as a politically-motivated 'smear' campaign, emphasising that Giuffre had previously stated Trump 'was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever'.
According to Leavitt, Trump had expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago around October 2007 'for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre.' This was corroborated by a 2019 email from Epstein that stated: 'Trump said he asked me to resign... never a member ever. . of course he knew about the girls as he asked to Ghislaine to stop.'
Epstein was arrested again in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and accused of abusing dozens of teenage girls before being found dead in his New York jail cell a month later in what authorities ruled a suicide.
