US President Donald Trump says he fell out with Jeffrey Epstein because the convicted sex offender "stole" young women, including Virginia Giuffre, from his Mar-a-Lago club.
His admission on Tuesday, local time, came as Epstein's long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell sought immunity from future prosecution as a condition for testifying to a US congressional committee.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One while flying home from Scotland, Mr Trump gave some of his most expansive public comments yet about his falling out with Epstein, the wealthy and well-connected financier who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking underage girls.
"People were taken out of the [Mar-a-Lago] spa, hired by him, in other words, gone," Mr Trump said.
"When I heard about it, I told him, I said, 'Listen, we don't want you taking our people.'
"And then, not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, 'Out of here.'"
Mr Trump also confirmed that one of the Mar-a-Lago spa attendants taken by Epstein was Ms Giuffre, the Australian who brought a civil case against Epstein's friend Prince Andrew, accusing him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.
Ms Giuffre, who accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave, took her own life at her home in Australia in April.
"I think she worked at the spa," Mr Trump told reporters.
"I think that was one of the people. He stole her."
The White House has said previously Mr Trump threw Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club two decades ago "for being a creep", and US media have reported that they became estranged over a Florida real estate deal.
Maxwell seeks immunity
Mr Trump's comments came as lawyers for Ms Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, said they were open to having their client cooperate with Congress, but wanted her to be guaranteed immunity by politicians first.
The Republican-led House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform aims to conduct a deposition of the British socialite on August 11 at the Florida prison where she is serving a 20-year sentence.
Maxwell was convicted in New York in 2021 of helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
"Ms Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity," Maxwell's lawyer, David Markus, told Representative James Comer, who chairs the House committee, in a letter.
Mr Markus laid down additional conditions for a deposition, including conducting it somewhere other than the prison, and being provided with the committee's questions in advance.
He added that his client would testify to the committee in a public setting if she were to be granted clemency.
Maxwell is asking the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. Mr Trump has said he is not considering a presidential pardon for her.
Trump dogged by questions over Epstein
Questions over Mr Trump's past relationship with Epstein and his administration's handling of records related to the case have dogged the president for weeks, including during a weekend visit to Scotland.
Mr Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s.
He said that he cut off ties with Epstein years before Epstein's death.
Democrats in Congress and some of Mr Trump's core supporters have demanded the release of documents involving Epstein and Maxwell.
Epstein served a 13-month jail sentence after pleading guilty in 2008 to a Florida state felony prostitution charge.
AP/AFP
