Trump met teenage Epstein victim who was contestant in his beauty pageant

Yahoo

3 days ago

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida - A child sex abuse survivor from South Florida who testified at the Ghislaine Maxwell trial in 2021 said she had met Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in the 1990s when she was 14 and was once a contestant in Trump's Miss Teen USA beauty pageant.
"Jane," a pseudonym, is one of the few Epstein survivors who has said publicly that she met Trump through Epstein. She never described any inappropriate behavior by the president, however, and didn't say much more about the meeting, such as why she and Epstein were there. Trump has never been formally accused of participating in or knowing about any of Epstein's crimes.
Jane said she took part in the pageant in 1998, but it wasn't clear whether that was before or after the Mar-a-Lago introduction. Four 1997 contestants have said he walked through the changing rooms while they were dressing, according to a 2016 Buzzfeed report.
More: How Trump and 'terrific guy' Jeffrey Epstein's party boy friendship ended badly
Trump and Epstein lived within two miles of each on the island and moved in around the same time — Trump in 1985 and Epstein in 1990. They have been seen socializing in several photos and videos.
Their relationship is now back in the spotlight as Trump faces pressure from Republicans, his own supporters and Democrats to provide greater transparency into Epstein's case — and as questions continue to swirl around what the future president of the United States may have known or witnessed during his years-long relationship with Epstein.
More: Trump's on a roll. Why isn't he smiling? Answer: Jeffrey Epstein
Trump has said he "kicked (Epstein) out of his club for being a creep."
"I threw him out, and that was it. I'm glad I did, if you know the truth," Trump told reporters July 28 during a meeting with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Ghislaine Maxwell granted limited immunity
Maxwell finished up two days of speaking with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche July 24-25 at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee.
Blanche granted her limited immunity to answer questions, presumably about any possible Epstein accomplices. Trump has said that he could pardon her but hasn't said that he would.
The meeting took place in response to a firestorm of controversy from Trump's own base after the Department of Justice announced in a memo on July 7 that it had not found any evidence of a "client list" by Epstein in a tranche of documents and other digital evidence it holds.
The agency also said that it would not be releasing any more of them to the public. In addition, it found no evidence that could initiate an investigation of any "third parties," nor any reason to believe Epstein had blackmailed anyone, the memo said.
The memo confirmed earlier reports of more than 1,000 Epstein victims.
One of them, Jane, led off the four victims who testified for the prosecution in Maxwell's 2021 trial. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking minors and in 2022 was sentenced to 20 years. She is serving her time in a federal prison in Tallahassee.
Jane was one of two victims from Florida to take the stand. The other, Carolyn Andriano, 36, of Wellington, Florida, was found dead a year after Maxwell's sentencing from an accidental drug overdose in a West Palm Beach hotel room. At least one juror said he found her testimony so compelling that it helped lead the group to a guilty verdict.
Jane said she had met Epstein and Maxwell in 1994, fresh from the grief of her father dying, at age 14 at an arts camp in Michigan. Maxwell had been walking by with her Yorkie and Jane asked to pet the dog. Soon Epstein joined them at a picnic table and they talked about all of them being residents of Palm Beach County. Epstein, a benefactor of the camp, had a cabin nearby.
A few weeks later, Jane, an eighth-grader, and her mother were invited to Epstein's Palm Beach mansion for tea. Jane went back every other week or so without her mother.
Maxwell acted like a big sister at first, Jane testified, but then she was focused on showing her how to please Epstein sexually. Jane said Epstein sexually abused her for the first time in his pool house at his Palm Beach property.
Soon after, Maxwell and Epstein sexually abused her together, she said. The abuse took place not only on Palm Beach but also at Epstein's homes in New York City and New Mexico.
Jane spoke to authorities in 2019
Jane said she stopped seeing them around 2002 and that was the first time she told anyone. A former boyfriend corroborated her story on the stand. She talked to law enforcement in 2019, she said, because as an actor, she feared repercussion in her career.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking minors. Three weeks later, awaiting trial, he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell.
Holly Baltz is an editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump met teenage Epstein victim, a contestant in his beauty pageant
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