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Why did Trump and Jeffrey Epstein really fall out? The Mar-a-Lago connection
US President Donald Trump mimics a weightlifter while he speaks at a dinner he hosts for Republican Senators at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, US, February 7, 2025. File Image/Reuters
For years, United States President Donald Trump has fielded questions about his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein — and, crucially, what caused the two men to sever ties
This week, he offered his most detailed account yet, linking the rift to Epstein repeatedly hiring away employees from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, many of them young women working in the club's spa.
While travelling back from Scotland aboard Air Force One, Trump recounted how the dispute unfolded two decades ago. He described learning that several Mar-a-Lago workers were leaving to work for Epstein, despite his warnings to the financier to stop.
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'People were taken out of the spa — hired by him — in other words, gone. And other people would come and complain, 'This guy is taking people from the spa,'' Trump said.
'I didn't know that. And then when I heard about it, I told him, I said, 'Listen, we don't want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa, I don't want them taking people.' And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, 'Out of here.''
Trump confirmed that the workers in question were 'young women,' responding directly to reporters: 'The answer is yes, they were.'
The US president explained that after Epstein ignored his warning and hired away more employees, he was barred from Mar-a-Lago.
'For years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn't talk. Because he did something that was inappropriate: He hired help,' Trump said.
'And I said, 'Don't ever do that again.' He stole people that worked for me. I threw him out of the place ‒ persona non grata. I threw him out, and that was it. I'm glad I did, if you know the truth.'
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The Virginia Giuffre connection
Virginia Giuffre — one of Epstein's most prominent accusers — may have been among the employees Epstein took from Mar-a-Lago.
When asked directly if she was one of them, Trump said, 'I don't know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever.'
Giuffre worked at Mar-a-Lago during the summer of 2000 when she was 16 years old, later becoming an outspoken advocate for sex trafficking survivors.
She died by suicide earlier this year, and her association with both Epstein and Mar-a-Lago remains a key part of public interest in the case.
Conflicting narratives about the falling out
The explanation Trump gave this week differs from earlier accounts and statements. The White House recently said Trump banned Epstein 'for being a creep.'
Trump now says the reason was tied to Epstein hiring spa employees, saying those two descriptions are 'sort of a little bit of the same thing.'
Commuters walk past a bus stop near Nine Elms Station as activists put up a poster showing US President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein near the US Embassy in London, UK. File Image/AP
In previous years, other theories circulated about their falling out. A 2019 Washington Post report suggested the two men clashed over a high-end property called Maison de l'Amitié, a bankrupt oceanfront estate in Palm Beach.
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That report described the pair competing aggressively for the property, though Trump's White House at the time neither confirmed nor denied that story.
Epstein had been part of Trump's social circle in the 1990s and early 2000s and even attended Trump's 1999 wedding to Marla Maples.
But according to Trump's own comments and those of former aides, the friendship ended years before Epstein's 2006 arrest for soliciting prostitution.
Maxwell subpoenaed, Epstein files under pressure
Trump's latest remarks come as the Epstein case continues to reverberate politically. Several Republican lawmakers have demanded the Justice Department release sealed documents from the Epstein investigation, some of which reference Trump's name.
The White House has acknowledged his name appears in the files but insists there is no wrongdoing on Trump's part.
A US Attorney alongside FBI (right), at a news conference announcing charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein in New York City, New York, US, July 2, 2020. File Image/Reuters
The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime associate, who is serving a 20-year sentence for assisting Epstein in sexually abusing underage girls.
On Tuesday, Maxwell's lawyers requested immunity for her testimony and asked to delay any appearance until the Supreme Court considers her case.
Questions over what Trump knew
Trump has repeatedly stated he never visited Epstein's private island in the Caribbean, where some of the worst abuse took place. 'And by the way, I never went to the island,' he said this week.
Yet his past remarks and other reported encounters continue to raise questions about how much he knew about Epstein's activities. In 2002, Trump famously told New York Magazine that Epstein 'likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.'
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There are accounts from others, too. A Florida businessman once said he warned Trump about holding a 'calendar girl' event with Epstein, saying he expressed discomfort about Epstein pursuing younger girls.
Trump adviser Roger Stone, in his 2016 book, quoted Trump recalling Epstein's 'swimming pool was full of beautiful young girls,' with Trump allegedly commenting, 'How nice, I thought, he let the neighbourhood kids use his pool.'
A 2020 book by reporters from the Miami Herald and Wall Street Journal claimed Epstein even made advances toward the teenage daughter of a Mar-a-Lago member. A
ccording to one of the authors, 'such an act could irreparably harm the Trump brand, leaving Donald no choice but to remove Epstein.'
Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg told The Washington Post in 2019 that Epstein's recruitment of a young woman for massages prompted Trump to excommunicate him from Mar-a-Lago — long before Epstein's sex trafficking investigation became public knowledge.
Fallout overshadowing Trump's agenda
Trump's trip to Scotland was meant to focus on global issues, including announcing a preliminary trade deal with the European Union and addressing the food crisis in Gaza during his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
But questions about Epstein overshadowed much of the visit.
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When reporters asked whether the trade deal was timed to shift focus from Epstein, Trump dismissed the suggestion: 'You gotta be kidding with that. That had nothing to do with it.'
Despite attempts to steer the conversation back to policy, the Epstein story continues to dominate headlines and fuel debate within Trump's own political base.
He has called the controversy a 'hoax' amplified by political opponents, but the details he has shared — and the inconsistencies between different versions of events — have only fuelled further questions.
With inputs from agencies
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