Trump’s latest explanation for his falling out with Epstein is the most incriminating
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There are people who sound like they have nothing to hide, and then there’s this:
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.”..
..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.
As JMM says, if there’s an innocent explanation here it’s not evident:
I've also seen the speculation (quite reasonable) he's thinking of particular people here. But Trump staffs his places at least half with like teens from Ireland on work visas and the rest randoms from the area. The idea that Trump wld give a fuck if Epstein hired a waiter at Mar a Lago…
[image or embed]— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) Jul 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
2/ to come work at Epstein's estate is so absurd that you can't hear and not think, wow, it must totally be a Defcon 1 situation. Not to mention this is like the 9th explanation of their falling out. I mean who knows what in the black box but this isn't JPMorgan poached Citi's top private …— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) Jul 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
3/ wealth guy. The whole thing is absurd.— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) Jul 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
holy crap. now he's confirmed that one of the workers Epstein "stole" was Virginia Giuffre. i hadn't seen this. I guess it's not speculation.
[image or embed]— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) Jul 29, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Marcy Wheeler has more on the timeline here.
It’s amazing that multiple top appointments of the Trump administration made “exposing” a scandal in which Trump was heavily implicated their signature issue.