"We didn't mean for this": Trump: Epstein "stole" our women

To what extent was Donald Trump involved in Jeffrey Epstein's schemes? Many Republicans are now asking this question, too. The US president is trying to distance himself from the sex offender. Now he's underpinning his break with Epstein with a previously unknown incident.

US President Donald Trump has presented a new version of his break with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The president said he fell out with Epstein many years ago because he "stole" female employees from Trump's Mar-a-Lago beach club in Florida. Epstein also poached one of the key witnesses in the affair, Virginia Giuffre, from his club, Trump said.

Epstein had brought women from his club's spa, Trump told reporters on the flight back from his multi-day trip to Scotland. "When I heard about that, I said to him, 'Listen, we don't want you taking our people,'" the president emphasized. "Not long after, he did it again. And I said, 'Get out of here.'"

One of these employees was Giuffre. "I believe she worked at the spa," Trump said. "I believe that was one of the people. He stole her." According to media reports, it had long been known that Giuffre worked in the locker room of Trump's club. She allegedly came to the sex offender through Epstein's former girlfriend and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Giuffre plays a key role in the affair. She had accused Epstein of abusing her as an underage "sex slave" and passing her on to other men. In 2001, Epstein allegedly introduced the then 17-year-old to British Prince Andrew, who allegedly forced Giuffre to have sex with him in London. Andrew denied the allegations and reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022.

Trump has come under pressure from within his own camp in the case because his administration failed to shed light on the scandal as promised. Epstein was found hanged in his New York prison cell in 2019. Giuffre committed suicide in Australia last April at the age of 41.