President Trump claimed Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein “took” young women working at a spa at Mar-a-Lago years ago as the president continues to be dogged by questions regarding his relationship with the convicted sex offender.
Trump had previously revealed that part of his falling out with Epstein involved throwing him out of the Mar-a-Lago spa for poaching employees from the resort.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One upon his return to Scotland, Trump went into further detail, claiming that one of those employees included Virginia Giuffre, who was one of Epstein’s most vocal accusers. She died by suicide in April.
“I don’t know. I think she worked in the spa, I think so. 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,” the president said of Giuffre.
Trump’s claims have not been independently verified. A former lawyer for Giuffre did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.
When asked if the other workers Epstein took from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida were young women, Trump replied, “Yes, they were.” When pressed, he said that they were largely spa workers.
“People that work in the spa — I have a great spa, 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. And other people would come and complain, ‘This guy is taking people from the spa.’ I didn’t know that,” Trump said.
He continued, “And then 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, then not too long after that, he did it again, and I said, ‘out of here.’”
The comments largely build on ones Trump made Monday when he was asked why he had thrown Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago resort.
“For years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein … because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help,” he said.
“He stole people that worked for me. I said, 'Don’t ever do that again.' He did it again, and I threw him out of the place,” Trump added.
The president, meanwhile, has punted when asked about a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime Epstein associate who is serving a prison sentence and spoke with the Department of Justice last week.
“I’m allowed to give her a pardon,” Trump said. “Nobody’s approached me with it, nobody’s asked me about it. It’s in the news, about that, that aspect of it. But right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”
Trump said Friday he hadn’t thought about pardoning Maxwell and called on reporters to focus on other Epstein associates and other topics.
Source: The Hill - News
