Family of Virginia Giuffre break down in tears and reveal Epstein victim wanted his FBI files released
The family sat down with CNN 's Kaitlan Collins on Thursday night to discuss what their sister would have thought of recent developments in the case against Epstein, who died inside a New York prison while awaiting sex crime charges in 2019.
'She wanted the world to know what they've done to her and other survivors,' said Amanda Roberts, Giuffre's sister-in-law, as she asked why documents pertaining to his case remain sealed while trying to choke back tears.
Roberts went on to say Giuffre wanted 'those monsters to be exposed for who they are and what they've done,' referring to both Epstein and Maxwell, who is serving 20 years behind bars for her involvement in Epstein's sex crimes.
She made similar remarks earlier in the day in an interview with NBC News, saying she had spoken to her sister-in-law about the case before she took her own life at the age of 41.
'She had a little bit of hope in her because it was said that the files were going to be released,' Roberts said of President Donald Trump 's previous remarks that he would release documents related to the case.
'She was fighting for that to happen right up until the very end,' she continued adamantly. 'She wanted the public to know the crimes that they had committed.'
But the Trump administration stunned even members of its base when it denied reports that Epstein kept a list of the rich and powerful people for whom he trafficked young girls.
Many have since accused the Trump administration of engaging in a cover-up of Epstein's crimes - and members of Congress have even suggested having Maxwell testify publicly about what he had done.
But Giuffre's family argues that Maxwell should not be let out of her sentence or given any leniency in order to testify.
'We were very shocked and very surprised that they're giving her a platform,' Roberts told Collins on The Source Thursday night, saying Maxwell 'deserves to rot in prison because of what she did to my sister and so many other women.'
She then described the heiress as a 'puppet master' and a 'monster of a nightmare' who 'viciously participated' in Epstein's sex trafficking scheme by recruiting young women.
'It's really important that we create a culture... for victims and survivors to come forward, to protect them, to trust them and believe them,' she explained in remarks to NBC News.
'Survivors deserve the space to be heard always, and that if you were to let [Maxwell] free, it would be silencing them all over again - and that is not a culture that any of us want.'
Lanette Wilson, Giuffre's other sister-in-law, also argued that Maxwell was not 'a minor player' and instead helped organize Epstein's sex trafficking operations.
A senior administration official has since told the Daily Mail that 'no leniency is being given or discussed.
'The president himself has said that clemency for Maxwell is not something he is even thinking about at this time,' the official said, despite Trump previously saying he would be 'allowed to' pardon her.
The president had once been good friends with Epstein and Maxwell, who were photographed partying at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, including with Trump's then-girlfriend Melania.
But he claimed on Tuesday that their friendship ended when he realized Epstein was taking his young employees like Giuffre - who was just 16 years old and working as a locker room attendant at the spa at his Florida estate at the time.
'Everyone knows the people that were taken,' Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One. 'People were taken out of the spa hired by him.'
'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 you taking people," the president continued.
'And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, "Out of here."'
Trump then officially banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club in 2004.
Trump's remarks, though, led to renewed questions about how much he knew about Epstein's crimes.
'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,' Giuffre's family said in a statement on Wednesday.
'We and the public are asking for answers; survivors demand this.'
On Thursday, Giuffre's brother Sky also hit back on Trump's terminology.
'She wasn't stolen; she was preyed upon at his property - at President Trump's property,' he said as tears rolled down his face, adding that a 'predator... came and took her.'
Responding to the backlash on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that the president made his remarks in response 'to a question posed by a reporter about Ms. Giuffre - he did not bring her up.
'The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees,' she added.
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