The furious family of Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre slammed both President Donald Trump and his administration for their handling of the case.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, met with Maxwell twice last week. The former socialite and Epstein accomplice was given a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other crimes in 2022.
This week, the Daily Beast reported Maxwell will testify to Congress about Epstein’s sex crimes, but wants to be granted immunity or clemency—which President Trump has not ruled out giving her.
Giuffre, who had become an advocate of justice for survivors of sex trafficking, died by suicide in April. Her two brothers and her sisters-in-law said Maxwell had “targeted and preyed upon” a teenage Giuffre, then called Virginia Roberts.
“The government and the president should never consider giving Ghislaine Maxwell any leniency,” the family said in a statement to The Atlantic.
The statement added that any clemency shown towards the sex offender would “go down in history as being one of the highest travesties of justice.”
They added: “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,” according to NBC News.
The Daily Beast has contacted Maxwell’s lawyer for comment.
The family also called out Maxwell’s disturbing involvement with their late sibling when she was a teenager. Giuffre said in a 2016 deposition that she was approached by Maxwell while working as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in 2000, with Maxwell inviting her to give paid massages to Epstein.
The family 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,” according to NBC News.
Giuffre’s family said their sister would be “most angered” to see the government “listening to a known perjurer, a woman who repeatedly lied under oath and will continue to do so as long as it benefits her position.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. A senior administration official told NBC News and the Atlantic that “no leniency is being given or discussed” for Maxwell, and that Trump “himself has said that clemency for Maxwell is not something he is even thinking about at this time.”
Giuffre’s family also called out President Trump after he discussed how Epstein “stole” their late sibling from his Florida spa in 2000.
Talking on Air Force One on Tuesday, Trump was asked if Giuffre was one of the employees poached by Epstein. The president said of her, “I think she worked at the spa. I think that was one of the people. He stole her.”
Giuffre’s family said it was “shocking” to hear the President using language that made their sibling sound like an “object.”
Trump’s comments also made them question how much he knew about the illegal activity of his former friends Epstein and Maxwell.
“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,’” they said.
In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, Trump described Epstein as a “terrific guy” he’d known for 15 years, and that he was “a lot of fun” to be with. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump said at the time.
Giuffre’s family added, “We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this.”
In a statement to the Daily Beast about Trump’s comments on Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “President Trump was directly responding to a question posed by a reporter about Ms. Giuffre-he did not bring her up.
Leavitt added, “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees.”
Giuffre’s family said their sibling had always cooperated with authorities when it came to getting justice for herself and other victims of abuse.
“She endured death threats, threats against the lives of her children and family, financial ruin, and her physical and mental well-being were destroyed,” they said.
“She never backed down; she hoped that her strength would inspire other survivors to find the courage to come forward.”
