First lady Melania Trump on Thursday held a rare news conference to rebut allegations that she had a close relationship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Standing at a lectern in the Grand Foyer of the White House, the first lady labeled as “lies” unspecified allegations linking her to Epstein and said they “need to end today.” She said she was “never involved in any capacity” in Epstein’s abuse of his victims and characterized the disgraced financier and his partner as casual acquaintances who sometimes attended the same parties as her and President Donald Trump in the early 2000s.
“The false smears about me from mean-spirited and politically motivated individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name to gain financially and climb politically must stop,” she said.
The first lady did not respond to questions from reporters after her statement despite several shouted inquiries about why she was making this announcement now. The White House and the first lady’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Melania Trump’s ties to Epstein and Maxwell have come under greater scrutiny since January, when the Justice Department released an email she sent to Maxwell in 2002 as part of the millions of pages of correspondence it has released about its investigation into the disgraced financier.
She said the email cannot be considered anything more than “casual correspondence.”
Donald Trump and his administration have tried, with limited success, to quell controversies involving the release of files connected to Epstein, who died in federal custody in 2019 while facing charges of sex-trafficking and abusing girls.
The war in Iran and the related economic fallout have largely overshadowed the Epstein investigation over the past month, but the first lady’s news conference is likely to revive attention to the president’s many years of friendship with Epstein.
Donald Trump had a years-long friendship with Epstein that he said ended in the mid-2000s. He has repeatedly said that he was not aware of Epstein’s criminal activities.
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