President Donald Trump revealed details of his personal connection to Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday, reigniting concerns about an ongoing GOP-led cover-up of the sex trafficking case.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force Once, Trump said that Epstein “stole” employees who worked at his Mar-a-Lago spa and that the behavior led to a purported rift between them. Trump and Epstein were decades-long friends, and his administration’s refusal to release the Epstein files has caused tension among even the most loyal Trump supporters.

When a reporter asked Trump if the employees he accused Epstein of “stealing” were young women, he confirmed that they were.  

“It was the concept of taking people that work for me is bad. But that story’s been pretty well out there, and the answer is yes, they were,” he said.

As is often the case with Trump, he paused while discussing the serious criminal case to praise his spa as one of “the best spas in the world.”

“People were taken out of the spa, hired by him. In other words, gone. And other people would come and complain, this guy is taking people from the spa,” he added.

Trump later identified one of the women who were “taken” by Epstein as Virginia Giuffre, who he said “worked at the spa.”

Giuffre was a prominent victim of Epstein’s who pushed for criminal charges to be filed against him. She also provided information to law enforcement in the prosecution of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been convicted of offenses related to sex trafficking.

Giuffre died by suicide in April.

Trump’s admission of yet another personal connection to the Epstein scandal comes as he’s desperately trying to make the issue go away. 

Congressional Republicans have also been working to shut down inquiries and votes related to the Epstein files, while Trump is suing allies like Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch over reporting on the story.

But the damage is done: The public already believes that a cover-up is in progress.

In a YouGov poll released on Thursday, 61% of respondents said that they believe Trump’s name is in the Epstein files, and 53% said that they think that’s why his administration is stonewalling.

Trump’s inability to keep quiet about the case just seems to fuel more suspicions, implicating him even further in the eyes of most Americans.