The family of a key survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse urged President Donald Trump on Wednesday not to consider clemency for the late financier’s co-conspirator and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a sexual abuse advocate who died by suicide in April, made their plea to Trump in a public statement after he told reporters that Epstein, a convicted sex offender, “stole” Giuffre from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where she worked as a locker-room attendant at age 16 during the summer of 2000.
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Giuffre’s family called Trump’s admission “shocking” and questioned whether he was aware of Epstein’s and Maxwell’s actions.
“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. 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 added.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday night that Trump was referring to Giuffre in response to a question from a reporter about her.
“He did not bring her up. The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees,” she said in a statement.
In the statement, the family also said it was “convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell who targeted and preyed upon our then 16-year-old sister, Virginia, from Mar-a-Lago, where she was working in 2000, several years before Epstein and President Trump had their falling out.”
The Justice Department declined to comment when it was asked about the statement.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role recruiting and trafficking minors for sex, met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last week as the Trump administration seeks additional information pertaining to Epstein’s case. While her attorney, David Oscar Markus, said Friday there have been “no asks and no promises” about clemency, he told reporters Maxwell “would welcome any relief.”
Asked last week about pardoning Maxwell, Trump said he hadn’t thought about it but noted that he’s “allowed to do it.” The family of Giuffre, one of the earliest and most prominent voices to call for charges against Epstein and Maxwell, said any leniency extended toward Maxwell would “go down in history as being one of the highest travesties of justice.”
“The government and the President should never consider giving Ghislaine Maxwell any leniency,” the family said.
“Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life for the extraordinary violence and abuse she put not just our sister Virginia through, but many other survivors, who may number in the thousands.”
Maxwell’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the Giuffre family statement.
A senior administration official told NBC News after the statement was issued that “no leniency is being given or discussed.”
“The president himself has said that clemency for Maxwell is not something he is even thinking about at this time,” the official said.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee recently subpoenaed Maxwell for a deposition because of the “immense public interest and scrutiny” surrounding her case and Epstein’s. Maxwell’s lawyers said she’d consider testifying if she were granted immunity to ensure she doesn’t “risk further criminal exposure.” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky, the chair of the committee, denied the request, according to his spokesperson.
The Justice Department roiled Trump’s base this month in a memo that dismissed Epstein conspiracy theories, some of which Trump and his allies have promoted over the years. Among other things, the memo said that an internal review found no evidence of a “client list” and that Epstein died by suicide in jail in 2019. It also concluded there was no evidence to suggest Epstein had participated in blackmail.
Despite Trump’s efforts to tamp down the backlash from his supporters, at times calling the Epstein issue a “hoax,” many in his base have pointed to past promises him and Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all files related to the Epstein investigation.
Trump directed Bondi this month to seek the release of “pertinent” grand jury testimony. Bondi subsequently filed requests in federal courts in New York and Florida. A federal judge in Florida denied the Justice Department’s request last week, while court proceedings in New York continue.
The directive to seek grand jury testimony came the same day The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump wrote a letter to Epstein in 2003 with a drawing of a naked woman. Trump denied having written the letter and later sued for defamation.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
