On Tuesday, Donald Trump claimed that Jeffrey Epstein—the convicted sex offender he associated with for over a decade—”stole” Virginia Giuffre and other young female employees from his Mar-a-Lago club.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from Scotland, Trump was asked to clarify his earlier remarks about cutting ties with Epstein for taking workers from his business. The president had previously stated that he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago “because he did something inappropriate,” specifically, “he stole people that worked for me.”
White House officials have repeatedly suggested in recent weeks that Trump distanced himself from Epstein around 2004, expelling him from the club for sexually inappropriate behavior. Last week, spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump “kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”
However, Trump’s latest explanation—that the rift stemmed from Epstein poaching his employees—paints a different picture.
When asked if the workers Epstein took were young women, Trump replied, “Yes, they were. People that worked in the spa.”
A reporter then asked if one of them was Giuffre, a key accuser in the Epstein case who alleged in a lawsuit that she was recruited from Mar-a-Lago’s spa by Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000, when she was 16. Giuffre, who passed away this year, claimed she was abused by Epstein and Maxwell before being trafficked to other powerful men, including Prince Andrew.
“I think she worked at the spa,” Trump said. “I think that was one of the people, yeah. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.”
Trump and his administration have been trying to shift focus away from Epstein, whose case has unsettled his supporters. But his admission that Giuffre was among the stolen employees complicates the timeline. While Giuffre was allegedly taken in 2000, Trump praised Epstein in a 2002 interview, calling him a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women… many of them on the younger side.”
Additionally, investigative reporter Sarah Blaskey noted in her 2020 book that Epstein remained on Mar-a-Lago’s membership rolls until October 2007—over a year after his first arrest for soliciting a minor.
Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell, serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking minors with Epstein, has reportedly offered to testify before Congress—but only with immunity and other major conditions, according to a letter from her lawyers obtained by CNN.
(Reporting contributions by Lauren Gambino)
