Family speaks out after Trump said Jeffrey Epstein ‘stole’ Virginia Giuffre

The family of Virginia Giuffre, a woman who accused financier Jeffrey Epstein of sex-trafficking and assault, has expressed surprise at recent statements from United States President Donald Trump, alleging that Epstein “stole” her from his spa.

In a statement released late on Wednesday, the family called for more information to be released about the Epstein case.

“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’s statement said.

“We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this.”

Questions about Trump’s relationship with Epstein have dogged the president in recent weeks, with critics calling on him to release further documents the US government may have.

Trump himself has weighed in on the controversy, most recently while returning from his trip to Scotland this week.

A fallout over employee poaching?

As he flew on Air Force One, Trump brought up Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most high-profile accusers.

Giuffre died by suicide in April at her farm in western Australia. Previously, as a teenager, she had worked as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where her father was also employed in maintenance.

Trump accused Epstein, a convicted sex offender, of poaching employees like Giuffre.

“People were taken out of the spa, hired by him. In other words, gone,” Trump said. “When I heard about it, I told him, I said, ‘Listen, we don’t want you taking our people.’”

He added that Epstein’s actions caused a rupture in their relationship: “Not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, ‘Out of here.’”

His statements sparked a flurry of new media coverage. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has since defended Trump’s actions.

“The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees,” she said.

Upon taking office for a second term, Trump and his officials pledged to release government documents related to high-profile cases, including the assassinations of figures like civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr and US President John F Kennedy.

Many of the files in question have been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories.

In the case of Epstein, conspiracy theories have swirled about the circumstances of his 2019 jailhouse death and the potential influence he wielded over powerful acquaintances.

Figures in Trump’s current administration, like Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Kash Patel and his deputy director Dan Bongino, openly speculated whether Epstein had a “black book” or “client list” that he used to coerce government and industry leaders.

Attorney General Pam Bondi fuelled those rumours when she appeared on Fox News in February and said such a list was “sitting on my desk right now”.

Family calls for Maxwell to ‘rot’

Thus far, the Trump administration’s document releases have failed to produce major revelations about the Epstein scandal.

In July, the FBI and the Department of Justice issued a joint statement also affirming that their review revealed no client list and no evidence that Epstein blackmailed figures of power.

That review, however, did little to abate speculation among those who have been following the Epstein conspiracy theories, including members of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) base.

Reports have since emerged that the Justice Department briefed Trump about his name appearing in the Epstein files, and Democrats have sought to leverage the controversy to dent Trump’s popularity.

Trump, meanwhile, has called for federal grand jury records to be released, though experts point out that those are unlikely to contain the full scope of evidence in the Epstein case.

Justice Department officials also met last week with Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex offender and former girlfriend of Epstein who is accused of sex-trafficking and grooming victims on his behalf.

Attorney General Bondi has said some Epstein materials cannot be released, as they contain sensitive information about victims.

Maxwell, meanwhile, has offered to testify before Congress in exchange for a pardon and has petitioned the Supreme Court to review her case. She is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison.

In Wednesday’s message, Giuffre’s relatives urged the government not to pardon Maxwell for her crimes.

“Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life,” their statement read.

Source:

Al Jazeera and news agencies