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The first time I covered Prince Andrew’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein was in 2015, when Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre) filed a civil lawsuit naming Andrew as one of the powerful, well-connected men to whom she was “given” by Epstein. Virginia Roberts has been telling her story – the same story – for years, and she’s been fighting in civil courts for years to be heard, to get Epstein punished for his crimes and to get Epstein’s co-conspirators charged too. She’s never deviated from her story. And now that Epstein and his crimes are back in the news, Virginia is still talking. Good for her.

At a hearing in a Manhattan court, more than 20 of Epstein’s victims gathered to tell their stories in some kind of victim-impact, on-the-record testimony. After the hearing, Virginia spoke to the media. While she sticks the knife into Andrew, I’m still stuck on the first part of her statement: “I was recruited at a very young age from Mar-a-Lago…” OH MY GOD.

#JeffreyEpstein survivor Virginia Giuffre, who delivered a profound statement in court this morning, said Price Andrew, Duke of York “knows exactly what he’s done” and implored him to come clean about his role in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. pic.twitter.com/QPmQyPYiy5

— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) August 27, 2019

Here’s what else she said:

An accuser of the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday addressed her accusation that she was coerced into sex with Prince Andrew, saying the royal “knows what he’s done”. Virginia Giuffre had already alleged in 2011 testimony that Andrew “knows the truth” about Epstein’s abuse of underage girls and said he should be made to testify. In a December 2014 court filing she alleged that she was made to have sex with Andrew and other friends of Epstein.

On Tuesday, Giuffre spoke to reporters outside federal court in Manhattan. She was one of nearly two dozen women who spoke about alleged sexual abuse by Epstein during a unique court proceeding scheduled after the financier’s death in prison on 10 August, which was ruled a suicide. Epstein’s death at 66 brought an end to his criminal case but the judge gave accusers the opportunity to speak publicly.

“He knows what he’s done and he can attest to that,” Giuffre said about Prince Andrew, a video of the press conference showed. “He knows exactly what he’s done, and I hope he comes clean about it.”

Brad Edwards, a lawyer representing a number of Epstein accusers, said that “with respect to Prince Andrew or anyone else who made statements, gratuitous statements, if anyone wants to come over here and talk with us, and answer real questions that the victims have, and that we have on their behalf, we welcome that invitation. I personally extended that invitation to Prince Andrew multiple times. Any time, we are ready, and we have a lot of questions for him.”

[From The Guardian]

Meanwhile, Prince Andrew keeps releasing new statements which make him seem guiltier and guiltier. His people let everyone know that he’s available to speak to the police about anything, but he has not offered up his availability for any of these civil cases. I hope Virginia drags him to hell.

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