Trump Says Epstein ‘Stole’ Mar-a-Lago Spa Workers, Including Virginia Giuffre

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein “stole” young women who worked at his Mar-a-Lago resort, including Virginia Giuffre, one of the late financier’s most well-known accusers, according to the Associated Press.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from Scotland, Trump said Epstein had “taken people who worked for me.” He added that the women were “taken out of the spa, hired by him, in other words, gone.”

The comments marked a shift in Trump’s public explanation of his ties to Epstein. A day earlier, he had said Epstein was banned from Mar-a-Lago two decades ago because he “stole people that worked for me,” but had not identified any specific individuals at the time.

When asked if one of those individuals was Virginia Giuffre, Trump initially demurred but eventually said, “He stole her".

Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, had accused Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell of sexually abusing her after she was recruited while working as a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000. She claimed Maxwell hired her as Epstein’s masseuse, which led to repeated sexual abuse, according to court documents cited by AP. Although her allegations were not part of the formal criminal charges against Epstein, she remained a central figure in the broader narrative and conspiracy theories surrounding the case.

The White House had previously stated that Epstein was barred from Mar-a-Lago because he was acting like a “creep".

Epstein died in a federal detention centre in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was officially ruled a suicide, though it fuelled years of speculation and suspicion among the public and political circles, particularly some of Trump’s own supporters.

The Trump administration has come under pressure from some of its own political base over the Justice Department’s recent decision not to release further records related to Epstein. The abrupt announcement contradicted earlier promises of transparency and surprised many who had been hoping for disclosures that might support long-standing claims of a cover-up.

Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former partner and co-conspirator, was recently interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche inside a Florida courthouse. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls. Officials have not made public the details of her conversation with Blanche.

Her lawyers said on Tuesday that Maxwell is willing to testify before Congress if she is granted immunity from future prosecution and other conditions are met. “She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning,” her legal team said, according to AP.

The House Oversight Committee, which requested the interview, appeared to reject the conditions. “The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,” a committee spokesperson told AP.

Separately, Maxwell’s attorneys have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review her conviction, arguing she did not receive a fair trial. They also suggested one route to public testimony would be a presidential pardon, something Trump said he has not been asked for but noted was within his power.

In an effort to present itself as promoting transparency, the Justice Department has also asked courts to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein’s sex-trafficking investigations. A federal judge in Florida denied the request last week, but similar motions remain under consideration in New York.

(With inputs from AP)