Trump Makes Big Epstein Statement During Live Press Conference
On Thursday, President Donald Trump revealed further details about his previous association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
During a press conference held at the White House, Trump was questioned about remarks he made the previous week concerning Epstein’s attempts to ‘recruit’ young girls employed at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in the early 2000s.
Earlier reports indicated that Trump and Epstein were friends for a period, but they eventually had a disagreement, leading Trump to remove and subsequently ban Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago resort. On Thursday, Trump elaborated on this matter.
When asked by ABC News during an executive order signing if he understood why the disgraced financier was taking women from his club, the president responded, “No, I don’t really know why, but I said, if he’s taken anybody from Mar-a-Lago, he’s hiring or whatever he’s doing, I didn’t like it. And we threw him out.”
These comments came after public criticism from the family of Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most notable victims, regarding statements President Trump made the day before about her and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted accomplice in the sex trafficking scheme.
While speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump implied that Giuffre—who tragically died by suicide in April—might have been one of several Mar-a-Lago employees who were “stolen” by Epstein.
“I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people,” Trump remarked about Giuffre. “He stole her. You want to know the truth? And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever.”
However, Giuffre’s family issued a statement rejecting that portrayal.
“We would like to clarify that it was convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell who targeted and preyed upon our then 16-year-old sister, Virginia, from Mar-a-Lago, where she was working in 2000, several years before Epstein and President Trump had their falling out,” the family stated, as reported by ABC News.
Epstein was apprehended in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking and subsequently died by suicide while in custody the following month, as reported by federal authorities.
Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty in 2021 of sex trafficking and received a 20-year prison sentence in 2022. The Department of Justice indicated that she “assisted, facilitated, and participated” in Epstein’s exploitation of underage girls from 1994 to 2004.
Virginia Giuffre claimed that Maxwell recruited her from Mar-a-Lago when she was 16 years old and also accused Maxwell of personally abusing her. Maxwell refuted these allegations, asserting in a 2016 deposition that Giuffre had “lied repeatedly.”
Epstein was apprehended in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking and subsequently died by suicide while in custody the following month, as reported by federal authorities.
Maxwell was found guilty in 2021 of sex trafficking and received a 20-year prison sentence in 2022. The Department of Justice indicated that she “assisted, facilitated, and participated” in Epstein’s exploitation of underage girls from 1994 to 2004.
This month, Maxwell met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on two occasions for a cumulative duration of approximately nine hours. Although the specifics of these meetings have not been disclosed to the public, they occurred following Trump’s directive to Attorney General Pam Bondi to release any information regarding Epstein that she deems relevant in a bid for transparency.