Portrait of American financier Jeffrey Epstein (left) and real estate developer Donald Trump as they pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate, Palm Beach, Florida, 1997.
Davidoff Studios Photography | Archive Photos | Getty Images
A woman who says she was sexually abused by late sex criminal and financier Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell testified Wednesday that Epstein took her to meet Donald Trump at his Florida club when she was 14 years old.
The woman, in testimony at Maxwell’s federal sex crime trial, did not allege any improper conduct by Trump when she met him at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Nor did the woman characterize what happened at that meeting, which she confirmed under cross-examination by Maxwell’s lawyer Laura Menninger in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maxwell is charged with procuring the woman, who was testifying with the pseudonym “Jane,” and other then-underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, a money manager who for years socialized with Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and other wealthy and powerful people.
Jane is the first of those accusers to testify at the trial, which began Monday.
Her account of meeting Trump was described in an interview she gave federal investigators, which Menninger asked her about Wednesday.
“Mr. Epstein introduced you to Donald Trump, correct?” Menninger asked.
Jane replied, “Yes.”
Jane said Epstein took her to Mar-a-Lago in a dark green car.
Ghislaine Maxwell talks with her attorneys during her trial on charges of sex trafficking, in a courtroom sketch in New York City, November 30, 2021.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
Epstein died in August 2019 while in a Manhattan jail from what has been ruled a suicide by hanging while awaiting his own trial on federal child sex trafficking charges.
Epstein’s arrest occurred a month before his death.
Trump said at the time that he was no longer friends with Epstein, and that they had not spoken for up to 15 years.
“I’m not a fan of his,” Trump said then.
But they used to be chummy.
In 2002, Trump told New York magazine, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.”
“He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump said then. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
The New York Times in 2019 reported that in 1992, a Florida businessman at Trump’s request had organized a “calendar girl” competition at Mar-a-Lago.
“I arranged to have some contestants fly in,” the businessman, George Houraney, told the Times.
“At the very first party, I said, ‘Who’s coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.’ It was him [Trump] and Epstein.”
“I said, ‘Donald, this is supposed to be a party with V.I.P.s. You’re telling me it’s you and Epstein?'” Houraney recalled.
