Victims of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein said on Wednesday they were compiling a confidential list of his associates who abused underage girls.
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US President Donald Trump, a one-time close friend of the deceased financier, sought meanwhile to dampen the enduring political furore over the Epstein case.
“This is a Democrat hoax that never ends,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They’re trying to get people to talk about something that’s totally irrelevant to the success that we’ve had as a nation since I’ve been president,” he said.
Trump’s comments came as eight of Epstein’s victims held an emotional news conference at the US Capitol, where some of them spoke publicly for the first time about the sexual abuse they suffered.
Some of the women were as young as 14 when introduced to Epstein.
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“We were just kids,” said Marina Lacerda, who said she was paid US$300 to give “an older guy” a massage at his New York mansion. “It went from a dream job to the worst nightmare,” said Lacerda, who was “Minor Victim 1” in Epstein’s federal indictment.