WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump says he didn't know at the time why disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein poached workers from his Mar-a-Lago resort's spa.
"No, I didn't know," Trump told reporters on July 31 when asked if he knew why Epstein was taking his workers more than two decades ago. "I said, if he's taking anybody from Mar-a-Lago ‒ if he's hiring, or whatever he's doing ‒ I didn't like it. And we threw him out."
Trump earlier this week said he cut ties with Epstein, a longtime friend of Trump during the 1990s and early 2000s, because he "stole people that worked for me."
More: Trump says poached Mar-a-Lago spa staff included Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre
He later confirmed on July 29 that the poached workers included Virginia Giuffre, an outspoken Epstein victim who has said Epstein's procurer and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell recruited her into Epstein's circle she was a 16-year-old Mar-a-Lago locker room assistant. Giuffre died by suicide in April of this year.
