President Trump said on Tuesday that he had ended his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein because the financier had “hired away” spa attendants at Mar-a-Lago.
Asked whether one of the women was Virginia Giuffre, a known victim of Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, Mr. Trump said: “I don’t know. 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.”
Mr. Trump’s remarks to reporters on Air Force One elaborated on his claim a day earlier that he had blacklisted Mr. Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he had hired away some of Mr. Trump’s employees. White House aides had previously said that Mr. Trump barred Mr. Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club “for being a creep.”
Ms. Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, has said that she was groomed to perform sexual services and “passed around like a platter of fruit” to rich and powerful predators in Mr. Epstein’s circle, including Prince Andrew of Britain.
Ms. Giuffre was 16 when she was recruited to Mr. Epstein’s sex ring while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, and said that she was groomed and abused by Mr. Epstein and his associates until she broke contact with him in 2002.
That same year, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Epstein in an interview with New York Magazine.
“Terrific guy,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Epstein 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. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Two years later, the two men became rivals over an oceanfront Palm Beach mansion that had fallen into foreclosure. Mr. Trump ultimately outbid Mr. Epstein for the property and the long friendship ended.
There is little public record of the two men interacting after that real estate battle. Mr. Trump would later say in 2019 that he and Mr. Epstein had a “falling out” and hadn’t spoken in 15 years; the president declared himself “not a fan” of his former friend.
On Monday, Mr. Trump said that he “never had the privilege” of visiting Mr. Epstein’s private Caribbean island — where he entertained famous friends and allegedly trafficked underage girls for sex — because he had turned down an invitation from the financier.
Between 1993 and 1997, while Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein remained friendly, Mr. Trump’s name appeared seven times in Mr. Epstein’s flight logs. The flights were between Palm Beach and New York, including a stop in Washington, D.C.
Asked on Tuesday about his dispute with Mr. Epstein, Mr. Trump said “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.’”
He continued, “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. And then not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, ‘out of here.’”
It is unclear what other employees Mr. Trump may be referring to, and the White House did not answer a question about the claim. There are no known records of Mr. Epstein recruiting others from Mar-a-Lago. Another young woman who accused Mr. Epstein of abuse, Maria Farmer, recalled being eyed by Mr. Trump during a brief encounter in Mr. Epstein’s office, and claimed that Mr. Epstein had told Mr. Trump at the time that “she’s not for you.”
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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