Giuffre's brother on Trump's claims she was "stolen": "She's not an object"
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The late Virginia Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teenager, when she said she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein and others. Photo: Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The family of Virginia Giuffre, who accused Jeffrey Epstein and others of sexually abusing her as a minor, criticized President Trump for saying the disgraced financier "stole" her from her job at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
The big picture: Her family built on a statement they gave The Atlantic that they were "shocked" by the remarks during Thursday interviews in which they said the late Giuffre wanted the Epstein files to be released and that Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell should never be pardoned for her sex-trafficking conviction.
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized in an emailed statement Thursday that Trump was "directly responding to a question posed by a reporter" about workers being stolen and that the president, who has never been implicated in any wrongdoing in the Epstein case, "did not bring" Guiffre up.
Driving the news: "She's not an object, she's a person," said a tearful Sky Roberts, brother of Giuffre, who died by suicide at age 41 in April, during an interview with NBC News that was published Thursday.
- "She's a mom; she's a sister. And she was recruited by [Epstein associate Ghislaine] Maxwell," he said.
- "She wasn't stolen," added Roberts, in reference to Trump's comments this week that "he stole her" after saying that he thought Guiffre may have been among the workers that Epstein recruited from Mar-a-Lago.
- During a Thursday evening interview with CNN, Roberts added, "She was preyed upon ... That's a predator that came and took her and did absolutely horrible things to her and so many other women."
Zoom in: Giuffre's family released a media statement on Wednesday urging Trump not to pardon Maxwell after Trump said last week "I'm allowed to give her a pardon but nobody's approached me with it" and it would be "inappropriate to talk about it."
- "Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life," the family said.
- Amanda Roberts told NBC News that her sister-in-law Giuffre "had a little bit of hope in her because it was said that the files were going to be released" in the Epstein case. "She wanted the public to know the crimes that they had committed."
What they're saying: "The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees," Leavitt said.
- A senior administration official told Axios that leniency for Maxwell is not being given nor discussed.
- "That's just false," they said. "The President himself has said that clemency for Maxwell is not something he is even thinking about at this time."
- They did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on whether that meant Trump would never grant Maxwell clemency.
Go deeper: What the Epstein documentaries tell us about his case
