Aboard Air Force One returning from Scotland on 29/7, former President Donald Trump expressed his annoyance with Jeffrey Epstein for "poaching my employees."
"These women were lured away from the spa, hired by him. They just left. I said, 'Listen, we don't want you taking our people like this'," Trump stated, adding that when it happened again, he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago.
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Former President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One departing Scotland on 29/7. Photo: AP |
Former President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One departing Scotland on 29/7. Photo: AP
He confirmed that one of the spa employees at Mar-a-Lago poached by Epstein was Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre sued Prince Andrew, a friend of Epstein, alleging he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
Epstein died by suicide earlier this year. Giuffre asserted that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, noticed her while she was a spa employee at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, when Giuffre was a teenager. Maxwell hired her as a masseuse for Epstein, which led to her sexual abuse. Giuffre also accused Epstein of pressuring her into having sex with other powerful men.
Maxwell, who has denied Giuffre's allegations, is serving a 20-year sentence in a federal prison in Florida for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.
Epstein, born in 1953, was an American financier. He was prosecuted in 2006 following an investigation by the FBI and Florida police. Two years later, he reached a plea deal with the state court to avoid federal charges that could have led to a more severe prison sentence. Epstein pleaded guilty to two felony counts, including soliciting a minor for prostitution, and served 13 months.
In July 2019, Epstein was arrested in New York on charges of soliciting and transporting dozens of minors, some as young as 14, for sex. He faced 45 years in prison if convicted.
Epstein denied all charges and was held at the Manhattan jail in New York. However, while awaiting trial, Epstein died by suicide in his cell in August 2019.
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Trump and Epstein at a party at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in November 1992. Photo: NBC News |
Trump and Epstein at a party at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in November 1992. Photo: NBC News
Trump recently faced pressure after the Department of Justice and the FBI released a memo concluding there was no evidence that Epstein kept a "client list" or blackmailed powerful individuals, despite widespread rumors.
Trump repeatedly urged Republican voters not to "waste time" on the case, accusing the "Epstein file" of being a Democratic hoax for political purposes.
This has led to dissatisfaction among some of his supporters who believed the rumors. They expected Trump to confirm everything upon returning to the White House but instead received confirmation that the conspiracy theories were false.
Trump was once a friend of Epstein, but he denies ever visiting the financier's home in the US Virgin Islands, where the crimes took place.
Vu Hoang (According to AFP, AP)
