Donald Trump has claimed that Jeffrey Epstein ‘stole’ Virginia Giuffre and other young female staff from his Mar-a-Lago club. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, the president reiterated that his falling out with the late sex offender was triggered by Epstein poaching employees from his business.
Trump confirmed that the workers taken were young women from the spa. When asked specifically about Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers who died earlier this year, Trump responded, ‘I think she worked at the spa… That was one of the people, yeah. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us.’ Giuffre alleged in a lawsuit that she was recruited from Mar-a-Lago in 2000, when she was 16, by Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Trump’s account complicates his timeline with Epstein. Despite claiming the break occurred around 2004, he praised Epstein in a 2002 interview, calling him a ‘terrific guy’. Additionally, investigative reporting shows Epstein remained a Mar-a-Lago member until October 2007, more than a year after his first arrest for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Meanwhile, Maxwell, now serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, has offered to testify before Congress but demands immunity and conditions, according to a letter from her attorneys seen by CNN.
