Overview

• President Trump said he severed his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein in the mid-2000s after the financier hired staff from his Mar-a-Lago spa without permission, including Virginia Giuffre.
• He has refuted a Wall Street Journal report that he added a lewd sketch to Epstein’s 2003 birthday card and maintained he never set foot on Epstein’s private island in the British Virgin Islands.
• The Department of Justice and FBI concluded earlier this month that Epstein did not maintain a secret client list and that his death in custody was a suicide.
• Ghislaine Maxwell requested immunity from future charges as a condition for her August 11 congressional testimony, but House Republicans rejected her bid.
• Her contested appearance before the House Oversight Committee will proceed without immunity, intensifying partisan debate over transparency and accountability in the Epstein affair.