The truth has a way of surfacing, Virginia Giuffre’s family tell BBC’s Laura Kuenssbergpublished at 10:16 BST
10:16 BST
Today’s broadcast interview with the family of Virginia Giuffre on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is the first the family has given to UK media.
They’re reacting to the latest trove of evidence released about convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, of whom Giuffre was a victim.
Earlier we reported that Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, told the programme Peter Mandelson should never have been given the position of UK ambassador to the United States. This comes after emails revealed the extent of his relationship with Epstein.
Giuffre alleged that she was abused by Epstein after she met British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000 while working as a locker room attendant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
Sister-in-law Amanda Roberts says “more questions need to be asked” into Trump’s relationship with Epstein.
Trump has previously said that Giuffre was “stolen” from his resort Mar-a-Lago by Epstein. Responding to this, Sky becomes emotional as he recounts their shock “that he knew”.
“And she’s not stolen, these survivors and my sister was not an object. She was prayed upon… into a sex trafficking ring at his [Trump’s] property”, he tells BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
In the evidence released was an alleged letter from Trump to Epstein, which the White House has called “fake news”.
If Trump is not implicated, he needs to do “the right thing” and release more documents, Sky argues.
On Prince Andrew, another high profile person with ties to Epstein, both Sky and Amanda say they were never contacted by members of the royal household.
In 2001, at the age of 17, Giuffre said Epstein brought her to London and introduced her to Prince Andrew, who she claimed sexually abused her three times.
The prince, who has denied all claims against him, reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022 which contained no admission of liability or apology.
Amanda says to Prince Andrew: “You know what you’ve done and that’s for you to live with.”
“The truth has a way of surfacing, and we have to believe that justice is going to happen.”