Trump says Epstein 'stole' young women from Mar-a-Lago spa, including
Virginia Giuffre
[July 30, 2025]
By CHRIS MEGERIAN and ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Jeffrey
Epstein “stole” young women who worked for the spa at Mar-a-Lago, the
latest evolution in his description of how their highly scrutinized
relationship ended years ago.
One of the women, he acknowledged, was Virginia Giuffre, who was among
Epstein’s most well-known sex trafficking accusers.
Trump's comments expanded on remarks he had made a day earlier, when he
said he had banned Epstein from his private club in Florida two decades
ago because his one-time friend “stole people that worked for me.” At
the time, he did not make clear who those workers were.
The Republican president has faced an outcry over his administration's
refusal to release more records about Epstein after promises of
transparency, a rare example of strain within Trump's tightly controlled
political coalition. Trump has attempted to tamp down questions about
the case, expressing annoyance that people are still talking about it
six years after Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial, even
though some of his own allies have promoted conspiracy theories about
it.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend, was recently
interviewed inside a Florida courthouse by the Justice Department’s No.
2 official, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, though officials have
not publicly disclosed what she said. Her lawyers said Tuesday that
she’s willing to answer more questions from Congress if she is granted
immunity from future prosecution for her testimony and if lawmakers
agree to satisfy other conditions.
Aboard Air Force One while returning from Scotland, Trump said he was
upset that Epstein was “taking people who worked for me.” The women, he
said, were “taken out of the spa, hired by him — in other words, gone.”
“I said, listen, we don’t want you taking our people,” Trump said. When
it happened again, Trump said he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago.
Asked if Giuffre was one of the employees poached by Epstein, he
demurred but then said “he stole her.”
The White House originally said Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago
because he was acting like a “creep.”
Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year. She claimed that Maxwell
spotted her working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, when she
was a teenager, and hired her as Epstein’s masseuse, which led to sexual
abuse.
Although Giuffre’s allegations did not become part of criminal
prosecutions against Epstein, she is central to conspiracy theories
about the case. She accused Epstein of pressuring her into having sex
with powerful men.
Maxwell, who has denied Giuffre’s allegations, is serving a
20-year-prison sentence in a Florida federal prison for conspiring with
Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls.
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An airplane towing a banner that reads "Trump and Bondi are
protecting predators" is seen over the Florida Capitol, Friday, July
25, 2025, in Tallahassee, Fla., as Deputy Attorney General Todd
Blanche meets with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former
girlfriend of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
in the nearby federal courthouse. (AP Photo/Colin Hackley)
A spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee, which requested the
interview with Maxwell, said the panel would not consider granting
the immunity she requested.
The potential interview is part of a frenzied, renewed interest in
the Epstein saga following the Justice Department's statement
earlier this month that it would not be releasing any additional
records from the investigation, an abrupt announcement that stunned
online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump's
political base who had been hoping to find proof of a government
coverup.
Since then, the Trump administration has sought to present itself as
promoting transparency, with the department urging courts to unseal
grand jury transcripts from the sex-trafficking investigations. A
judge in Florida last week rejected the request, though similar
requests are pending in New York.
In a letter Tuesday, Maxwell's attorneys said that though their
initial instinct was for Maxwell to invoke her Fifth Amendment right
against self-incrimination, they are open to having her cooperate
provided that lawmakers satisfy their request for immunity and other
conditions.
But the Oversight Committee seemed to reject that offer outright.
“The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney
soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for
her testimony," a spokesperson said.
Separately, Maxwell's attorneys have urged the Supreme Court to
review her conviction, saying she did not receive a fair trial. They
also say that one way she would testify “openly and honestly, in
public,” is in the event of a pardon by Trump, who has told
reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not
been not asked to do it.
“She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the
many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case
from the beginning,” the lawyers said.
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