British woman testifies about grooming by Ghislaine Maxwell
CTV
A British woman testified Monday that Ghislaine Maxwell pressured her into giving Jeffrey Epstein sexual massages when she was still a teenager, assuring her she would have 'fun' with him.
The woman -- testifying at Maxwell's sex-abuse trial in New York City using the pseudonym "Kate" to protect her privacy -- described one episode during the mid-1990s at Epstein's Palm Beach, Florida estate where Maxwell left out a schoolgirl's outfit with a pleated skirt for her to wear for the financier.
"I thought it would be fun for you to take Jeffrey his tea in this outfit," the witness recalled Maxwell telling her.
After a sexual encounter that followed, the British socialite "asked me if I had fun" and told her, "You are such a good girl," she said.
The witness was the second woman to take the witness stand against Maxwell in federal court in Manhattan. But unlike the first, she was at the age of consent in Great Britain and the United States during her sexual contact with Epstein, so the judge barred her from detailing specific sex acts.
United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a gathering of top security officials Saturday that war with China was neither imminent nor unavoidable, despite rapidly escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, stressing the importance of renewed dialogue between him and his Chinese counterpart in avoiding "miscalculations and misunderstandings."