The official line from Donald Trump and his team has long been that the president and Jeffrey Epstein had a falling out several years ago. The reason, however, for their split hasn’t been altogether consistent.
There have been some suggestions of late, for example, that the Republican banned the late financier for being a “real creep,” while others have pointed to a falling out over a real estate deal. In recent days, however, the president has been leaning into the idea that Epstein did something “inappropriate” by hiring people who used to work for him.
Just as a political matter, it’s difficult to understand why Trump would be wedded to this line. After all, it’d be to his benefit to instead say something like, “The more I got to know Epstein, the more I came to realize that I didn’t want anything to do with such a lowlife, so I cut ties.”
But, no. The president instead has committed to a wildly different line, in which he ended his friendship with Epstein because the late millionaire sex offender tried to poach members of his staff.
In a Q&A with reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday afternoon, Trump not only doubled down on the line, he also elaborated on a specific name for the first time.
Trump: People were taken out of the spa, hired by Epstein… I told him we don’t want you taking our people, whether it’s spa or not spa. He did it again, I said out of here. Reporter: Was one of the stolen people Virginia Giuffre?Trump: I think so. He stole her.
— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2025-07-29T18:24:59.497Z
“He took people,” Trump said, referring to Epstein. “And because he took people, I said, ‘Don’t do it anymore. You know, they work for me.” And he took — beyond that, he took some others. Once he did that, that was the end of him. When they steal people, I don’t like it.”
Moments later, the president was asked whether the employees in question were young women. After initially responding that he didn’t want to say, the Republican soon after said, “The answer is yes.” Trump elaborated:
People who work in the spa — great spa, one of the best spas in the world, at Mar-a-Lago — and people were taken out of the spa, hired by him. In other words, gone. And other people would come and complain, ‘This guy is taking people from the spa.’ I didn’t know that. And then when I heard about it, I told him, I said, ‘Listen, we don’t want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa. I don’t want you taking people.’ And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again, and I said, ‘Outta here.’ It was at that point when a different reporter asked whether Virginia Giuffre — one of the most prominent victims of Epstein’s sexual abuse, who died by suicide a few months ago — was one of the poached employees. “Uh, I don’t know,” Trump initially responded, before quickly adding, “I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever.” The on-the-record comments clearly suggested that the president was aware of Giuffre — who was a teenager when she worked in the spa at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago — and she was one of the employees Trump was annoyed to see go after Epstein “stole” her. If White House officials were hoping to see the story start to fade away, those hopes were dashed aboard Air Force One.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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