Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre's family says Trump 'should never consider giving Maxwell any leniency'
While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, Trump revealed Epstein "stole" Giuffre while she was working at his Florida estate decades ago.
"I think she worked at the spa," Trump said as he departed Scotland, referring to Giuffre. "He stole her, and by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever."
The revelation further peeled back the curtain on the narrative surrounding Epstein's years of sexual abuse towards underage girls before his suicide in 2019, especially for Giuffre's family, who have spent decades looking for answers.
"It makes us ask if [Trump] 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,'" Giuffre's two brothers and her sisters-in-law told The Atlantic. "We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this."
For years, Giuffre remained one of the key voices in holding those within Epstein's web accountable before she died by suicide in her Western Australia home in April.
Giuffre first came forward publicly with her allegations after an initial investigation into Epstein resulted in a controversial sweetheart deal that ended with the disgraced money manager receiving an 18-month Florida jail sentence.
"Virginia cooperated with the authorities," her family said. "She endured death threats, threats against the lives of her children and family, financial ruin, and her physical and mental well-being were destroyed. She never backed down; she hoped that her strength would inspire other survivors to find the courage to come forward."
Civil litigation brought by Giuffre alleged she was recruited by Maxwell while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000. Her family told the outlet what was supposed to be a fun summer job ended with Giuffre being sex-trafficked.
Trump has previously said he was not involved in Epstein's sex crimes. He and Epstein reportedly fell out of touch in 2004 – two years before Epstein's initial arrest – after Trump outbid Epstein on a coastal Florida estate, according to The Palm Beach Post.
The president also added this week that he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago after he was caught poaching employees from Trump's staff – including Giuffre.
"He took people," Trump said. "I said, 'Don't do that anymore,' you know, they work for me. And he took beyond that. He took some others. And once he did that, that was the end of him."
"President Trump was directly responding to a question posed by a reporter about Ms. Guiffre – he did not bring her up," the White House said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees."
Giuffre's family – Sky and Amanda Roberts, and Danny and Lannette Wilson – told The Atlantic they are still "reeling" from her suicide and are worried about Maxwell's bid for immunity in exchange for information.
"The government and the President should never consider giving Ghislaine Maxwell any leniency," Giuffre's family wrote.
Last week, Maxwell took center stage after she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to answer questions surrounding the case.
Days earlier, she was slapped with a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee asking her to testify on Aug. 11. Her attorney has since said she will only testify if granted immunity, which the panel rejected.
"If our sister could speak today, she would be most angered by the fact that the government is listening to a known perjurer, a woman who repeatedly lied under oath and will continue to do so as long as it benefits her position," Giuffre's family told The Atlantic, referring to Maxwell.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in procuring underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. She has recently appealed to Trump to pardon her sentence – a possibility the president has previously said is within his right to consider, but he has not been asked to do so yet.
However, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital that "no leniency is being given or discussed. That's just false. The President himself has said that clemency for Maxwell is not something he is even thinking about at this time."
Maxwell's attorney and Giuffre's family did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Maxwell's legal team is also asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of her 2021 conviction – a decision the court is set to discuss in a private conference on Sept. 29.
In light of the recent conversations toying with the possibility of Maxwell receiving an incentive in exchange for her testimony, Giuffre's family is imploring officials to not take the bait, while asking the Trump administration to maintain its promises of accountability and transparency.
"The government and the President should never consider giving Ghislaine Maxwell any leniency," Giuffre's family said. "Maxwell destroyed many young lives, and she was convicted for only a fraction of the crimes she actually committed."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
15 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump pressures China and India to stop buying cheap Russian oil
U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing China and India to stop buying oil from Russia and helping fund the Kremlin's war against Ukraine. Trump is raising the issue as he seeks to press Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire. But cheap Russian oil benefits refiners in those countries as well as meeting their needs for energy, and they're not showing any inclination to halt the practice. Three countries are big buyers of Russian oil China, India and Turkey are the biggest recipients of oil that used to go to the European Union. The EU's decision to boycott most Russian seaborne oil from January 2023 led to a massive shift in crude flows from Europe to Asia. Since then China has been the No. 1 overall purchaser of Russian energy since the EU boycott, with some $219.5 billion worth of Russian oil, gas and coal, followed by India with $133.4 billion and Turkey with $90.3 billion. Before the invasion, India imported relatively little Russian oil. Hungary imports some Russian oil through a pipeline. Hungary is an EU member, but President Viktor Orban has been critical of sanctions against Russia. The lure of cheaper oil One big reason: It's cheap. Since Russian oil trades at a lower price than international benchmark Brent, refineries can fatten their profit margins when they turn crude into usable products such as diesel fuel. Russia's oil earnings are substantial despite sanctions The Kyiv School of Economics says Russia took in $12.6 billion from oil sales in June. Russia continues to earn substantial sums even as the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations has tried to limit Russia's take by imposing an oil price cap. The cap is to be enforced by requiring shipping and insurance companies to refuse to handle oil shipments above the cap. Russia has to a great extent been able to evade the cap by shipping oil on a 'shadow fleet' of old vessels using insurers and trading companies located in countries that are not enforcing sanctions. Russian oil exporters are predicted to take in $153 billion this year, according to the Kyiv institute. Fossil fuels are the single largest source of budget revenue. The imports support Russia's ruble currency and help Russia to buy goods from other countries, including weapons and parts for them.
Washington Post
26 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Bondi moves forward on Justice Department investigation into origins of Trump-Russia probe
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed that the Justice Department move forward with a probe into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation following the recent release of documents aimed at undermining the legitimacy of the inquiry that established that Moscow interfered on the Republican's behalf in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
28 minutes ago
Texas and California joust for political advantage
AUSTIN, Texas -- The nation's two most populous states — California and Texas — grappled for political advantage in advance of 2026 elections that could reorder the balance of power in Washington and threaten President Donald Trump's agenda at the midpoint of his second term. In Texas, Democrats on Monday prevented their state's House of Representatives from moving forward, at least for now, with a redrawn congressional map sought by Trump to shore up Republicans' 2026 midterm prospects as his political standing falters. In California, Democrats encouraged by Gov. Gavin Newsom are considering new political maps that could slash five Republican-held House seats in the liberal-leaning state while bolstering Democratic incumbents in other battleground districts. The move is intended to undercut any GOP gains in Texas, potentially swinging House control and giving Democrats a counterweight to Trump on Capitol Hill. A draft plan aims to boost the Democratic margin in California to 48 of 52 congressional seats, according to a source familiar with the plan who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. That's up from the 43 seats the party now holds. It would need approval from lawmakers and voters, who may be skeptical to give it after handing redistricting power to an independent commission years ago. The rivalry puts a spotlight on two states that for years have dueled over jobs, innovation, prestige — even sports — with the backdrop of clashing political visions — one progressive, one conservative. After dozens of Democrats left Texas, the Republican-dominated House was unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to do business. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has made threats about removing members who are absent from their seats. Democrats counter that Abbott is using 'smoke and mirrors' to assert legal authority he does not have. The House quickly issued civil arrest warrants for absent Democrats and Abbott ordered state troopers to help find and arrest them, but lawmakers physically outside Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities. 'If you continue to go down this road, there will be consequences," House Speaker Rep. Dustin Burrows said from the chamber floor, later telling reporters that includes fines. Democrats' revolt and Abbott's threats intensified a fight over congressional maps that began in Texas but now includes Democratic governors who have pitched redrawing their district maps in retaliation — even if their options are limited. The dispute also reflects Trump's aggressive view of presidential power and his grip on the Republican Party nationally, while testing the longstanding balance of powers between the federal government and individual states. The impasse centers on Trump's effort to get five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas, at Democrats' expense, before the midterms. That would bolster his party's chances of preserving its fragile U.S. House majority, something Republicans were unable to do in the 2018 midterms during Trump's first presidency. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas' 38 seats. That's nearly a 2-to-1 advantage and already a wider partisan gap than the 2024 presidential results: Trump won 56.1% of Texas ballots, while Democrat Kamala Harris received 42.5%. According to the tentative California proposal, districts now held by Republican Reps. Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Doug LaMalfa would see right-leaning voters shaved and Democratic voters boosted in a shift that would make it likely a left-leaning candidate would prevail in each race. In battleground districts held by Democratic Reps. Dave Min, Mike Levin and Derek Tran, the party's edge would be boosted to strengthen their hold on the seats, the source said. Democratic members of California's congressional delegation were briefed on the new map on Monday, according to a person familiar with the meeting who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations. The proposal is being circulated at the same time that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he wants to advance partisan redistricting. He says he won't move ahead if Texas pauses its efforts. Newsom said he'd call a special election for the first week of November. Voters would weigh a new congressional map drawn by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. 'California will not sit by idly and watch this democracy waste away,' Newsom said Monday. More than 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) from Austin, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared with Texas Democrats and argued their cause is national. 'We're not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by a bunch of law-breaking cowboys,' Hochul said Monday. 'If Republicans are willing to rewrite rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us with no choice: We must do the same. You have to fight fire with fire.' In Texas, legislators who left the state declined to say how long they'll hold out. 'We recognized when we got on the plane that we're in this for the long haul,' said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer while in Illinois. Texas House Democratic Caucus leader Gene Wu said members 'will do whatever it takes' but added, 'What that looks like, we don't know.' Legislative walkouts often only delay passage of a bill, like in 2021, when many Democrats left Texas for 38 days to protest proposed voting restrictions. Once they returned, Republicans passed that measure. Lawmakers cannot pass bills in the 150-member House without two-thirds of members present. Democrats hold 62 seats in the majority-Republican chamber, and at least 51 left the state, according to a Democratic aide. The Texas Supreme Court held in 2021 that House leaders could 'physically compel the attendance' of missing members, but no Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants were served. Republicans answered by adopting $500 daily fines for lawmakers who don't show. Abbott, meanwhile, continues to make unsubstantiated claims that some lawmakers have committed felonies by soliciting money to pay for potential fines for leaving Texas during the session. ___
