President Donald Trump made headlines during an executive order signing on Thursday when he discussed his knowledge regarding notorious convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s activities, particularly at his Mar-a-Lago club.
Trump was questioned by ABC News about why Epstein was reportedly taking women from his exclusive resort. In response, he stated, “No, I don’t know really 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 in the wake of growing outrage expressed by the family of Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent victims. They were incensed by Trump’s remarks made a day earlier about Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate who was convicted of sex trafficking.
During a press meeting on Wednesday, Trump suggested that Giuffre, who tragically died by suicide in April, might have been among several employees at Mar-a-Lago that he claimed were “stolen” by Epstein.
He remarked, “I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever.”
Giuffre’s family promptly released a statement condemning Trump’s characterization, asserting that Virginia was not “stolen” by Epstein but was rather targeted by Maxwell, who preyed upon her when she was just 16 years old and working at Mar-a-Lago in 2000. This event occurred several years before Trump and Epstein severed ties.
They expressed their shock at Trump discussing Giuffre and questioned whether he had been aware of Epstein and Maxwell’s criminal activities. They pointed to his past remarks in 2002, where he was quoted saying Epstein “likes women on the younger side. . . no doubt about it.”
In their statement, Giuffre’s family said, “It makes us ask if he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal actions, especially given his statement two years later that his good friend Jeffrey ‘likes women on the younger side . . . no doubt about it.'”
They concluded by emphasizing that both they and the public deserve answers, stating, “survivors deserve this.”
Epstein was apprehended in July 2019 for federal charges of sex trafficking and was found dead in his jail cell the following August in what authorities claimed was a suicide. Maxwell faced conviction in 2021 for sex trafficking, receiving a 20-year prison sentence the next year, with the Department of Justice affirming that she had significantly contributed to the abuse of multiple girls between 1994 and 2004.
Giuffre had publicly alleged that Maxwell recruited her from Mar-a-Lago when she was a minor, further claiming that Maxwell had abused her. Maxwell has continually denied these allegations, claiming during a deposition in 2016 that Giuffre had “lied repeatedly.”
In a recent development, Maxwell met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for more than nine hours over two days, during which she answered questions regarding her involvement with Epstein. Sources indicated that these discussions were initiated by Maxwell herself.
Addressing Maxwell’s situation, the Giuffre family expressed their discontent with the government engaging with her, stating, “Virginia would be most angered by those meetings. The government is listening to a known perjurer. A woman who repeatedly lied under oath and will continue to do so as long as it benefits her position.”
They labeled Maxwell a “monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life.”
When pressed about the possibility of pardoning Maxwell, Trump replied, “Well, I’m allowed to give her a pardon. But nobody’s approached me with it, nobody’s asked me about it. It’s in the news, that — that aspect of it. But right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”
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