CNN Anchor Goes Off on Trump Over ‘He Stole Her’ Bombshell in Blistering Commentary
CNN anchor John Berman went off on President Donald Trump over the bombshell revelation that deceased former pal and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein “stole” Virginia Giuffre from his Mar-a-Lago resort.
During an Air Force One gaggle, Trump dribbled out the revelations that his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein was over the hiring away of employees who were “young women,” whom he then confirmed “worked in the spa,” and may have or definitely did include Giuffre, an Epstein victim who died by suicide this past April:
REPORTER: Mr. President, did — did one of those stolen, you know, persons, did that include Virginia Giuffre?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people, yes. He — he stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.
On Tuesday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Berman took particular exception to Trump’s language as he torched the president in a lengthy commentary that was bookended by reference to the “he stole her” quote:
BERMAN: “He stole her.” The President said those three words today aboard Air Force One on the way back from golfing in Scotland. That’s a matter of fact. “He stole her.”
What he meant by those words is open to interpretation and because the “he” refers to a former friend, sex predator Jeffrey Epstein and the “her” is one of many underage women Epstein allegedly victimized.
The President’s words today also invite scrutiny. They are part of his new explanation for why he broke off a long and some say, warm friendship with Epstein, which the President first rolled out yesterday. He did it with Britain’s Prime Minister right next to him, sitting expressionless while he weighed in on the sex offender he wishes people would stop talking about so much, and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice in the recruiting, grooming and trafficking of underage young women as sex slaves, an obscene number of them.
Three weeks ago yesterday, in the memo that touched off this current uproar, the Justice Department estimated the number of Epstein’s victims at more than a thousand. Keep that in mind as you listen to the President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Very easy to explain, but I don’t want to waste your time by explaining it. But for years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn’t talk because he did something that was inappropriate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The question that, of course, raised is what was inappropriate? Did then citizen Trump, for example, get wind of Epstein’s inappropriate contact with minors? After all, he did tell New York Magazine back in 2002, “It is even said he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Is that the kind of inappropriate he means? Because that would certainly put someone beyond the pale for most people.
Actually, no. Was it that he merely came to believe that his old pal was, “being a creep”, as a White House statement phrased last week? Because, again, it would be totally understandable for anyone to be put off by even a hint of that. Except, no, it wasn’t that kind of inappropriate either by the President’s lights, not even the kind of inappropriate we were previously led to believe caused the falling out, namely, Epstein outbidding him for a piece of Palm Beach property which might be considered beyond the pale in some circles.
But it wasn’t that either. No. Here is why the President said he broke it off with the creepy, possibly property poaching, sex offending victimizer of allegedly more than 1,000 human beings.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wouldn’t talk, because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help. And I said, don’t ever do that again. He stole people that work for me. I said, don’t ever do that again. He did it again.
And 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 want to know the truth.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN: So the truth is, according to the president, Jeffrey Epstein poached employees. A well-known bridge too far for any sex offender. The president, though, left out the sex offender part.
And he did the same today, even when prompted.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said yesterday your falling out with Jeffrey Epstein was over him taking some of the workers from your business. But your administration in the past said that you threw him out because he was a creep. So can you explain that discrepancy?
TRUMP: Well maybe they’re the same thing, you know, sort of a little bit of the same thing. But no, he took people that work for me, and I told him, don’t do it anymore. And he did it and I said, stay the hell out of here.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN: Again, the President could have mentioned something about why he considered Jeffrey Epstein a creep. Perhaps even the crimes he pleaded guilty to and the many more he was charged with before he died. He might have said a word or two about the role his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, played.
She is now appealing her conviction for her role in Epstein’s crimes. Especially when, as you’ll hear in this next extended clip, one of those victims may have been a then underage Trump spa attendant named Virginia Roberts, later Giuffre. She said she was recruited by Maxwell, then forced by her and Epstein to have sex with a series of famous men, including, she said, Britain’s Prince Andrew, which he denies.
In 2021, the two settled her civil lawsuit against him in the matter out of court. Ms. Giuffre died by suicide in April. The President did not mention that today.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Epstein has a certain reputation, obviously. I’m just curious, were some of the workers that were taken from you, were some of them young women?
TRUMP: Some of them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were some of them young women?
TRUMP: Well, I don’t want to say, but everyone knows the people that were taken. And it was the concept of taking people that work for me is bad. But that story’s been pretty well out there. And the answer is yes, they were.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they were young women?
TRUMP: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did they do?
TRUMP: In the spa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) in the spa?
TRUMP: Yes. People that worked in the spa. I have a great spa, one of the best spas in the world in Mar-a-Lago. And 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. I didn’t know that. And then when I heard about it, I told them, I said, listen, we don’t want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa. I don’t want to him taking people. And he was fine.
And then not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, out of here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, did one of those stolen, you know, persons did that include Virginia Giuffre?
TRUMP: I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people, yes. He stole her.
And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN: There is that sentence, he stole her, which, if it doesn’t say enough already, also speaks loudly by omission. He says nothing about what happened to her, only what happened to him. To the president’s way of thinking, if his words are to be believed, that was Jeffrey Epstein’s cardinal sin, taking something, in this case, a human being, who belonged to him. He stole her.
Now, setting that aside for a moment, this new justification for the breakup raises questions as well about the timeline for this all. Giuffre fell into Epstein’s orbit in 2000. Yet two years later, in that New York magazine piece in which he talked about Epstein liking young women, the president also called him a terrific guy and a lot of fun to be with.
A year after that, he was, according to Wall Street Journal, sending Epstein 50th birthday wishes, running again, according to the journal. A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret. The president both denies sending that and is suing the paper over its reporting.
Another year later, in 2004, the two battled over a piece of real estate and reportedly broke ties after that, with no word until yesterday of this new explanation for the falling out and continuing silence about what his old friend did to anyone not named Donald Trump.
Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.
