The family of Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, said it was taken aback by President Trump’s comments about her when claiming that Epstein “stole” women who worked at his Mar-a-Lago resort years ago.
“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,” Giuffre’s family said in a statement Wednesday reported by NBC News and other outlets.
Trump was asked about Giuffre on Air Force One while returning from Scotland earlier this week. He said he remembered the then-16-year-old being “stolen” from his Palm Beach club while discussing Epstein poaching former employees.
“I think she worked in the spa, I think so. I think that was one of the people — yeah, he stole her,” the president said. “And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.”
Giuffre’s family called on Trump to answer more questions surrounding the Epstein case while urging the president not to pardon the disgraced financier’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
“A predator who thought only of herself, she destroyed the lives of girls and young women without conscience,” Giuffre’s family said of Maxwell, according to NBC.
“Virginia always said that Ghislaine Maxwell was vicious and could often be more cruel than Epstein,” the family added.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, has urged the Supreme Court to intervene and overturn her sex trafficking conviction, while her attorney has also made overtures to Trump.
The president has said he has authority to pardon her but said earlier this week that “nobody’s approached me.”
Trump has long described a falling out with Epstein and this week explained he was mad at the wealthy businessman for hiring away women from the spa at his Palm Beach resort.
“For years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein … because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help,” the president said.
“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,” Trump added.
Lawmakers in Washington have called for the administration to release more information on the case surrounding Epstein, who officials say died by suicide in a jail cell in 2019. A top Justice Department official interviewed Maxwell multiple times last week.
Giuffre died by suicide in April, years after providing testimony detailing Epstein’s coercion forcing her to perform sexual acts for various powerful men, including, she alleged, Prince Andrew. She sued the British royal in 2021 and they reached a settlement the following year.
Her family said she endured death threats and financial ruin due to her candor.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment on her family’s statement.
