The family of Virginia Giuffre has responded to President Donald Trump‘s recent comments about her.
The president told reporters on Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein “stole” Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most well-known accusers, from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where she worked in the summer of 2000 when she was 16. Giuffre died by suicide in April.
“It was shocking to hear President Trump invoke our sister and say that he was aware that Virginia had been ‘stolen’ from Mar-a-Lago,” the family said in a statement.
“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,’” the statement continued.
The family added, “We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Trump “did not bring her up” but referred to Giuffre in response to a reporter’s question. She said Trump had barred Epstein from his club for “being a creep to his female employees.”
Newsweek has contacted the White House and the Department of Justice for comment outside regular business hours.
Why It Matters
Trump’s personal relationship with Epstein has come under renewed scrutiny after the Department of Justice announced earlier this month that it would not release any more files related to the Epstein investigation, despite previous promises to the contrary from Attorney General Pam Bondi. The department also said it found no Epstein client list and that the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender died by suicide in a federal jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The decision to not release any more files angered parts of Trump’s base of supporters, and the case continues to garner attention and conspiracy theories because of Epstein’s ties to many prominent people—including royals, presidents and billionaires.
What To Know
Trump told reporters on Monday that his friendship with Epstein ended because he “stole people that worked for me.”
His remarks that Giuffre was among the employees poached by Epstein came under scrutiny, given that Trump continued to associate with Epstein for several years afterward.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Bondi told Trump during a May briefing that his name was in the files related to Esptien’s case. The inclusion of someone’s name in files from the investigation does not imply wrongdoing. The president has denied prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the convicted sex offender.
According to Giuffre, she was hired as Epstein’s masseuse after Maxwell spotted her working at Mar-a-Lago in the summer of 2000.
Two years later, Trump told a reporter that Epstein was a “terrific guy.”
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump was quoted as saying in a New York magazine profile of Epstein published in October 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in July that Trump wrote a sexually suggestive letter to Epstein that was included in a 2003 album for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Trump denied writing the letter and has filed a defamation suit against the newspaper.
Epstein also remained on the membership rolls of Mar-a-Lago until October 2007, according to The Grifter’s Club, a 2020 book co-authored by reporter Sarah Blaskey. He was barred from the club after hitting on the teenage daughter of another member, the book said.
In the statement, Giuffre’s family also said it was 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 urged the government and the president not to grant Maxwell any leniency, saying that doing so would be “one of the highest travesties of justice” in history.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in December 2021 of helping Epstein sexually abuse girls.
Maxwell sat for interviews with Department of Justice officials in Florida in response to Trump’s directive to gather and release any credible evidence about others who may have committed crimes. David Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, said on Friday that there had been “no asks and no promises” but that Maxwell would “welcome any relief.”
Trump did not rule out the possibility of pardoning Maxwell when questioned by reporters on Friday, saying that he was “allowed to do it.”
What People Are Saying
Virginia Giuffre’s family said in a statement: “Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life for the extraordinary violence and abuse she put not just our sister Virginia through, but many other survivors, who may number in the thousands.”
When asked whether Giuffre was among the workers Jeffrey Epstein poached from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday: “I think she worked at 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.”
He said on Monday: “For years I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn’t talk because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help, and I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ 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, persona non grata. I threw him out and that was it. I’m glad I did if you want to know the truth.”
David Markus, Maxwell’s lawyer, said last week that she had endured “terrible, awful conditions for five years.”
He added: “We just ask that folks look at what she has to say with an open mind, and that’s what Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has promised us, and everything she says can be corroborated, and she’s telling the truth.”
What Happens Next
The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Maxwell to testify before the panel on August 11. On Tuesday, the committee rejected Maxwell’s request for immunity from future prosecution as a condition for testifying.
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