Ghislaine Maxwell Trial: Accused testifying victim Jeffrey Epstein brought her to Donald Trump when she was 14 years old; no alleged wrongdoing

Last year, Trump was asked about the charges against Maxwell and said he wished her “well”. In recent years, Trump has told reporters he banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago estate, but never explained why their friendship ended.

Defense challenges Jane about the inconsistency

Jane, the prosecution’s second witness, began her testimony Tuesday and said she first met Maxwell and Epstein in 1994 when she was 14 years old. They spent time with her, asked about her family and hobbies and took her to do interesting things. She testified that Maxwell felt like an older sister.

Then the abuse started, she said. She described sexual abuse cases with Epstein in which Maxwell would sometimes participate, both in Palm Beach and Manhattan when she was 14, 15 and 16 years old. She testified that Epstein would masturbate her and harass her, and Maxwell would sometimes join in, touching her and Epstein. On at least one occasion, Maxwell “instructed” her on how Epstein liked to be massaged while the three were in Epstein’s “massage room,” she testified.

During Wednesday’s cross-examination, Jane named several women she recalls participating in a sex-massage group she classified as “orgasms.” She said she could recognize them if she was shown photos, but admitted that no law enforcement agency had ever reviewed any of the photos of her to identify her.

The witness collapsed on the second day of testimony

Defense attorney Laura Menninger asked Jane about her long acting and entertainment career.

“There’s basically no melodramatic role you haven’t played,” the defense attorney said, recounting some of Jane’s on-screen roles over the years.

Can she cry when giving orders? Menninger asked.

“It’s not really how it works,” said Jane.

In directing the re-direction, prosecutor Alison Moe then asked the witness if she knew the difference between television acting and oath.

“It’s real to testify in court,” Jane replied. “It’s true.”

“I’m here to hope, eventually, find some sort of end to all of this,” Jane replied when asked why she took the stand. “This is something that I’ve had to run all my life until now. And I’m just tired of it.”

Jane testified that she kept quiet about the abuse because she did not believe her mother would support her.

Jane’s later voiced her rift as she reiterated to prosecutors about the time she shared her story with law enforcement – “sitting in a room full of strangers and telling them secrets.” the deepest and most shameful secret I’ve carried with me all my life.”

Jane sobbed when the prosecutor asked about the money she received from the Epstein Victims Compensation Fund. She gasped and wiped her face with a tissue before answering.

“In this country, compensation is the only thing you can get to try to move on with your life and for the… the pain, the torture and the suffering I’ve received and all the out-of-pocket money. I paid to try to make this thing go away and to try to fix myself,” she told the court.

Menninger had previously spent considerable time reviewing previous statements Jane made in law enforcement interviews since 2019 that revealed potential contradictions with her testimony in court. .

Menninger asked her a series of questions about the claims in which Jane told law enforcement officers that she was unsure if Maxwell had ever touched her and that she did not recall Maxwell ever being involved in any sexual activity. sex between you and Epstein. Jane has repeatedly said that she doesn’t remember whether she told investigators that.

On other occasions, Jane said while reviewing law enforcement notes from those interviews in the witness stand that the notes were inaccurate, sometimes inconsistent with her timeline, and not an exact copy of her statements that were not recorded.

The woman said she hired an attorney around 2007 to help stop the press from misreporting her and Epstein and deal with people who “harassed” her about her connection to Epstein. She admitted to speaking with Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s attorney, Brad Edwards, the plaintiff attorney for some of Epstein’s accusers, when he contacted her, but also said she wanted nothing to do with the prosecution. prosecuted Epstein at the time and did not share his allegations with law enforcement at the time.

After nearly eight hours in the stands for two days, Jane calmed herself and walked briskly out of the stands with a handful of tissues when her testimony came to an end.

‘How do you think I get my money?’

Jane’s ex-boyfriend testified briefly on Wednesday, saying she told him the financial help her family received from “godfather” Jeffrey Epstein “wasn’t free.”

The ex-boyfriend testified under the pseudonym “Matt,” noting that in the early years of their relationship, in the mid-2000s, Jane talked about a man who was like a “godfather” or “uncle” helped her family financially. She revealed the person was Epstein when news of his arrest in Florida surfaced.

Matt testified that Jane did not know many details about Epstein’s abuse but would tell him that “money is not free.”

Jane told Matt that having a woman around when she was with Epstein made her more comfortable but she did not reveal the woman’s name, he told the court. After reporting on Maxwell’s arrest in 2019, Matt said, Jane revealed her name to him.

In the stands, Matt recalled Jane confronting her mother about abuse around 2011 and accused her of turning a blind eye.

“How do you think I have money, Mom?” he remembered her words.

“Jane told her mom that money isn’t free and there’s no way she couldn’t have known it wasn’t free,” he testified.

The defense was no question for Matt.

Outside court later, Maxwell’s brother Kevin told reporters Wednesday that he was able to speak to her face-to-face for the first time in more than 500 days.

Kevin Maxwell said of his sister: “I felt so much relief to be near her, to see her in the flesh and even to be able to talk to her.