President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he ended his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein two decades ago because the disgraced financier was recruiting employees from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, including Virginia Giuffre. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from Scotland on 29 July 2025, Trump asserted that Epstein “stole people that worked for me,” adding, “I think so, he stole her,” when asked specifically about Giuffre, a former spa attendant who later became one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers. Giuffre was 17 when she was hired away from the club’s spa in 2000 and subsequently groomed by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, according to depositions made public in 2019. She died by suicide in April at age 41. Trump’s latest explanation differs from the White House statement last week that Epstein was barred from Mar-a-Lago for “being a creep,” and from earlier accounts that the men fell out over real-estate competition. The shifting narrative has renewed scrutiny of what Trump knew about Epstein’s conduct and when. The remarks come as the administration faces internal pressure to release additional Justice Department records on Epstein’s sex-trafficking network. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell last week, and Maxwell’s lawyers told Congress she would testify if granted immunity—an offer the House Oversight Committee has signaled it will not entertain. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring with Epstein to abuse underage girls.