President Trump said on Tuesday that he had ended his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein because the financier had “hired away” spa attendants at Mar-a-Lago.

Asked whether one of the women was Virginia Giuffre, a known victim of Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, Mr. Trump said: “I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever.”

Mr. Trump’s remarks to reporters on Air Force One elaborated on his claim a day earlier that he had blacklisted Mr. Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he had hired away some of Mr. Trump’s employees. White House aides had previously said that Mr. Trump barred Mr. Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club “for being a creep.”

Ms. Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, has said that she was groomed to perform sexual services and “passed around like a platter of fruit” to rich and powerful predators in Mr. Epstein’s circle, including Prince Andrew of Britain.

Ms. Giuffre was 16 when she was recruited to Mr. Epstein’s sex ring while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, and said that she was groomed and abused by Mr. Epstein and his associates until she broke contact with him in 2002.

That same year, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Epstein in an interview with New York Magazine.

“Terrific guy,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Epstein in October 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”