President Donald Trump said he only has well wishes for Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate who was arrested earlier this month in a federal sex-trafficking probe.
“I just wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the year, especially since I lived in Palm Beach and I guess they lived in Palm Beach,” Trump said on Tuesday after being asked by a reporter if he thought Maxwell was going to “turn in powerful men.”
Trump said he wasn’t “following it too much,” in reference to Maxwell’s case, and added that he wasn’t aware of “the situation with Prince Andrew,” who has denied accusations that he had sex with a then-17-year-old girl who has said Epstein groomed and abused her.
President Trump on Ghislaine Maxwell: "I just wish her well, frankly. I've met her numerous times over the years."
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— CSPAN (@cspan) July 21, 2020
“I wish her well, whatever it is,” Trump said of Maxwell.
Maxwell was arrested on charges that she conspired with Jeffrey Epstein to recruit and abuse minors. She pleaded not guilty to the charges last week and is being held in custody until her trial, which is anticipated to begin on July 12, 2021.
Trump, Epstein and Maxwell have previously been photographed together in Mar-a-Lago. For nearly a decade since the ’80s, Trump and Epstein were also known to socialize in similar circles, as the Washington Post reported last year. But shortly after Epstein’s arrest, Trump distanced himself from the financier when he publicly stated that he was “not a fan” of Epstein and said that the two had a “falling out.”