Virginia Giuffre's Family Responds to Trump's Claim That Epstein ‘Stole' Her
On Tuesday, while answering questions from reporters, Mr. Trump said that Mr. Epstein 'stole' Ms. Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago while she was working there as a spa attendant. Ms. Giuffre has long maintained that Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein's longtime associate, met her at the club and recruited her to serve as a masseuse for Mr. Epstein, but Mr. Trump's comments on Air Force One appeared to be the first time he had personally confirmed her story.
Ms. Giuffre died by suicide in April, and her family's statement said that Mr. Trump's remarks raised questions about his knowledge of the crimes committed by Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell. Ms. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison term for exploiting and abusing underage women. Mr. Epstein died in jail while facing similar charges.
'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 said. 'It makes us ask if he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal actions, especially given his statement two years later that his good friend Jeffrey 'likes women on the younger side … no doubt about it.' We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this.'
The family's statement came just days after Ms. Maxwell and her lawyer met with Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general and one of Mr. Trump's former defense lawyers, to discuss what she knew about the case. The extraordinary meeting between the Justice Department's No. 2 official and a convicted sex trafficker took place amid a firestorm of criticism from some of Mr. Trump's supporters who have been pressuring the president to release more information about the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein.
Ms. Giuffre's family criticized the meeting, warning that Ms. Maxwell has a long history of lying about the case.
'If our sister could speak today, she would be most angered by the fact that the government is listening to a known perjurer,' they said. 'A woman who repeatedly lied under oath and will continue to do so as long as it benefits her position.'
Mr. Trump's remarks on Air Force One elaborated on his claim a day earlier that he had blacklisted Mr. Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he had hired away some of Mr. Trump's employees. White House aides had previously said that Mr. Trump barred Mr. Epstein from the club 'for being a creep.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump calls on Federal Reserve board to wrest full control of central bank from Fed Chair Powell
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday called for the Federal Reserve's board of governors to usurp the power of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, criticizing the head of the U.S. central bank for not cutting short-term interest rates. Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Powell 'stubborn." The Fed chair has been subjected to vicious verbal attacks by the Republican president over several months. The Fed has the responsibility of stabilizing prices and maximizing employment. Powell has held its benchmark rate for overnight loans constant this year, saying that Fed officials needed to see what impact Trump's massive tariffs had on inflation. If Powell doesn't 'substantially' lower rates, Trump said, 'THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!' Trump sees the rate cuts as leading to stronger growth and lower debt servicing costs for the federal government and homebuyers. The president argues there is virtually no inflation, even though the Fed's preferred measure is running at an annual rate of 2.6%, slightly higher than the Fed's 2% target. Trump has called for slashing the Fed's benchmark rate by 3 percentage points, bringing it down dramatically from its current average of 4.33%. The risk is that a rate cut that large could cause more money to come into the economy than can be absorbed, possibly causing inflation to accelerate. The Supreme Court suggested in a May ruling that Trump could not remove Powell for policy disagreements. This led the White House to investigate whether the Fed chair could be fired for cause because of the cost overruns in its $2.5 billion renovation projects. Powell's term as chair ends in May 2026, at which point Trump can put his Senate-confirmed pick in the seat. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of the Federal Reserve System at Josh Boak, The Associated Press
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump hits more countries with steep tariffs, markets tumble
By David Lawder and Chayut Setboonsarng WASHINGTON/BANGKOK (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's latest wave of tariffs on exports from dozens of trading partners, including Canada, Brazil, India and Taiwan, sent global markets tumbling on Friday as countries pushed for talks to clinch better deals. Trump's new tariff rates include a 35% duty on many goods from Canada, 50% for Brazil, 25% for India, 20% for Taiwan and 39% for Switzerland. The presidential order listed higher import duty rates of 10% to 41% starting in seven days for 69 trading partners, effectively taking the U.S. effective tariff rate to about 18%, from 2.3% last year, according to Capital Economics. Global shares stumbled, with the Stoxx 600 down around 1% in the first hour of trading, and 1.7% lower on the week and set for its biggest weekly drop since early April. Both Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures were down around 1%. The market response was not as volatile as April's global asset declines, said Wei Yao, research head and chief economist in Asia at Societe Generale, referring to the market slide after Trump's initial tariffs announced on April 2. "We are all getting much more used to the idea of 15-20% tariffs being manageable and acceptable, thanks to the worse threats earlier," she said. But Trump's tariff rollout comes amid evidence they have begun driving up prices. U.S. Commerce Department data released Thursday showed prices for home furnishings and durable household equipment jumped 1.3% in June, the biggest gain since March 2022. NO WINNERS? Countries hit with hefty tariffs said they will seek to negotiate with the U.S. in hopes of getting a lower rate. Switzerland said it would push for a "negotiated solution" with the U.S. "I am stunned. These tariffs are based on no rational basis and are arbitrary," said Stefan Brupbacher, director of manufacturers' association Swissmem. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said the new 20% tariff rate for the island was "temporary " and that he expected to reach a lower figure. South Africa's Trade Minister Parks Tau said he was seeking "real, practical interventions" to defend jobs and the economy against the 30% U.S. tariff it faces. Southeast Asian countries breathed a sigh of relief after the U.S. tariffs on their exports that were lower than threatened and levelled the playing field with a rate of about 19% across the region's biggest economies. Thailand's finance minister said a reduction from 36% to 19% would help his country's economy. "It helps maintain Thailand's competitiveness on the global stage, boosts investor confidence and opens the door to economic growth, increased income and new opportunities," Pichai Chunhavajira said. Australian products could become more competitive in the U.S. market, helping businesses boost exports, Trade Minister Don Farrell said, after Trump kept the minimum tariff rate of 10% for Australia. But businesses and analysts said the impact of Trump's new trade regime would not be positive for economic growth. "No real winners in trade conflicts," said Thomas Rupf, co-head Singapore and CIO Asia at VP Bank. "Despite some countries securing better terms, the overall impact is negative." "The tariffs hurt the Americans and they hurt us," winemaker Johannes Selbach said in Germany's Moselle Valley. "Thousands of families who produce wine in Europe and thousands of families in the importing, wholesaling, retailing, restaurant business in the U.S. are dependent on the flow from both sides," he said, adding jobs and profits would be hit. Goods from all other countries not listed in Trump's executive orders will face a 10% U.S. import tax. Trump had previously said that rate might be higher. The administration also teased that more trade deals were in the pipeline. CANADA, INDIA, CHINA The Republican president has tapped emergency powers, pressured foreign leaders, and pressed ahead with trade policies that sparked a market sell-off when they were first announced in April. Trump's order said some trading partners, "despite having engaged in negotiations, have offered terms that, in my judgment, do not sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters." Trump issued a separate order for Canada that raises the rate on Canadian goods subject to fentanyl-related tariffs to 35%, from 25% previously, saying Canada had "failed to cooperate" in curbing illicit narcotics flows into the U.S. The higher tariffs on Canadian goods contrasted sharply with Trump's decision to grant Mexico a 90-day reprieve from higher tariffs of 30% on many goods to allow time to negotiate a broader trade pact. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was disappointed by Trump's decision, and vowed to take action to protect Canadian jobs and diversify exports. India is in trade talks with the U.S. after Washington imposed a 25% tariff on New Delhi, a move that could impact about $40 billion worth of its exports, an Indian government source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters on Friday. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with Trump's administration. A U.S. official told reporters that they are making progress toward a deal. The European Union struck an agreement on a blanket 15% tariff with the U.S. at the end of July. The bloc's trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the framework deal the EU signed with the U.S. gave EU exporters a "more competitive position." "This reinforces stability for businesses as well as trust in the transatlantic economy," he said.
CNN
14 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump's new tariffs have no precedent in the modern era
In just six months, President Donald Trump has remade global trade and upended a century of precedent. Trump on Thursday announced higher tariffs — again — on just about every country in the world. Even as some countries' tariff rates came in lower than they had feared, practically all goods coming in to the United States face a significantly higher tax than when Trump took office in January. The new trade regime will put in place the highest tariffs America has imposed since 1933, during the Smoot-Hawley era — a tariff bill that contributed to the deepening of the Great Depression. The higher tariffs threaten to disrupt the global economy again. Despite a milder-than-expected impact so far at home, there's already some evidence Trump's tariffs are — slowly — reigniting inflation and slowing the US economy. That danger is why leaders of developed countries for decades have largely lowered tariff rates and welcomed globalization — actions that have fueled the services economy backed by Big Tech and finance, but have also contributed to the offshoring of factories and manufacturing jobs. Last year, imports to the United States faced an effective tariff rate of 1.2%, a low tax that has fallen over the course of many decades. Declining tariffs in part persuaded US companies to make their products in foreign countries where labor costs were cheaper — and then ship those goods back into the United States while facing a relatively minuscule tax penalty for doing so. But that rate is set to surge to more than 18% when Trump's new tariffs take effect August 7, according to Yale's Budget Lab. Those taxes will be shared between exporters, importers and retailers, but economists widely expect consumers will pay for some of those tariffs in the form of higher prices. Companies that have for decades relied on overseas manufacturing to maximize profits and keep consumer prices low have declared massive tariff bills over the past few months. Apple on Thursday said it paid $800 million in tariffs last quarter and expects to pay $1.1 billion this quarter. Automakers, including GM, Stellantis and Volkswagen, also reported tariff costs of over $1 billion over the past quarter. Many major retailers, including Walmart and Target, have said recently they wouldn't be able to absorb all the tariff costs and would raise prices for their customers. Trump's tariffs are unpopular in polls, and businesses have fought them. But the White House has a decidedly positive view of its unorthodox strategy. Despite some negative reaction on Wall Street Friday, stocks remain near record highs. US gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy, bounced back sharply in the second quarter by some measures. The labor market has remained resilient, and inflation is still reasonably close to normal levels. That has given the Trump administration confidence that it can levy tariffs around the world to accomplish its multifaceted goals: Grow revenue, revive America's manufacturing economy, impose maximum political pressure and restore the balance of trade between the United States and the rest of the world. Tariffs have worked in many of those regards: The Treasury Department reports about $150 billion in tariff revenue since Trump took office, up considerably from previous years. Numerous American manufacturers have announced major commitments to build new factories in the United States. Trump has used the threat of tariffs to impose his will on multiple countries to negotiate everything from peace deals to lower taxes. And America's trade gap briefly narrowed earlier this year. However, each of those victories comes with considerable caveats. Tariff revenue is paid in the form of a tax on US importers, not foreign countries as Trump routinely claims. Many of the companies' factory announcements were already in the works or are years away from taking place, and — considering America has about 400,000 open manufacturing jobs it can't fill — it's not clear where the labor force for those factories will come from. Trump's tariff threats don't always work and sometimes penalize US consumers, who have to pay higher prices as a result. And the trade gap, after countries worked through their pre-tariff inventories, is widening again. It's unclear how history will view this moment. Trump's grand trade experiment so far has paid off better than most had expected. But economists continue to fear a delayed shock reaction that could damage the global economy and take America's standing in the world down a peg.
