"Service Ended After 18-Year-Old Employee Reported Sexual Advances"
Trump's Team Maintains "No Wrongdoing" Stance
It has been reported that massage therapists and beauticians from Mar-a-Lago Resort, owned by U.S. President Donald Trump, provided in-home services for several years at the residence of Jeffrey Epstein, who committed sex crimes against minors.
On December 31 (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that young women working as massage therapists and beauticians at the Mar-a-Lago Resort spa regularly traveled to Epstein’s residence, located about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the resort, to provide services. Although Epstein was not a member of the Mar-a-Lago spa, it was reported that President Trump instructed staff to "treat him like a member."
Service appointments were arranged by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend and accomplice. Employees recalled warning each other that Epstein insisted on receiving services only at his home, and that he would engage in "sexually explicit behavior" or "expose parts of his body" during the sessions. Nevertheless, these in-home visits reportedly continued for years.
The in-home services provided to Epstein were discontinued in 2003, after an 18-year-old beautician returned to the resort and informed managers that Epstein had pressured her for sex. The manager reported this to President Trump, who then said, "Get rid of him."
Former employees also recalled that President Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples, advised him to keep his distance from Epstein. Maples, who married Trump in 1993 and frequently visited the resort after it opened in 1995, remarked that there was "something wrong and strange" about Epstein and expressed concern about his influence on her husband.
President Trump was reportedly close to Epstein from the 1980s through the early 2000s. In a 2002 New York Magazine profile, Trump commented about Epstein, "He likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."
However, President Trump’s representatives have emphasized that he had no involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities and, in fact, severed ties with Epstein upon learning the truth about him. White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt told the WSJ via text message, "No matter how many times this story is repeated, the truth does not change," adding, "President Trump did nothing wrong, and he had Epstein removed (from Mar-a-Lago) because Epstein was engaging in nefarious acts."
On December 25, President Trump stated on his social networking service, Truth Social, that he was "the only one who dumped Epstein before it became fashionable to do so, before all the criminal acts of Epstein and powerful people came to light."
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