First lady Melania Trump on Thursday issued a rare public statement denying 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 were present at parties she and President Donald Trump attended 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, later calling for Congress to hold hearings for his victims.
The first lady did not respond to several shouted questions from reporters about the reason for her statement. Neither the White House nor the first lady’s office responded to additional questions, including about whether Donald Trump was aware of his wife’s plans to comment on her relationship with Epstein.
In a brief phone call after the event, Trump told a MS NOW reporter that he didn’t “know anything about” her statement before her appearance. He added that Melania Trump didn’t know Epstein.
Her 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. In the email, Melania Trump refers to Ghislaine as “G” and asks her to call her when she’s back in New York. The future first lady also complimented a photo of Maxwell that had run in a magazine article about Jeffrey Epstein.
The first lady said Thursday that the email cannot be considered anything more than “casual correspondence.” She also said she was never on Epstein’s plane or his island, primary sites of his abuse and trafficking of underage girls.
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 statement 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.
Melania Trump rarely makes public announcements at the White House, and her office gave no indication her statement Thursday would focus on Epstein. She spoke from a room emblazoned with the Seal of the President, surrounded by a bust of George Washington, marble columns and a painting of her husband raising a fist after a shooting at his 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
When the first lady does host events at the White House, it is typically to champion initiatives supporting children and education. Earlier this week, she read “The Runaway Bunny” to children gathered on the lawn for the annual Easter Egg Roll.
Donald Trump, who frequently responds to news on Truth Social, did not immediately address his wife’s remarks in public on Thursday. About two hours after her event, he posted a lengthy missive saying Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones had “Low IQs.” The conservative commentators have been some of the president’s most prominent supporters but have recently criticized his handling of the Iran conflict. He also criticized the Wall Street Journal editorial board and warned that Iran better not charge fees to tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. The president did not appear publicly at all on Thursday.
At the conclusion of her brief remarks, Melania Trump also called on Congress to hold a public hearing centered on women who were victimized by Epstein, saying they deserved the opportunity to tell their stories in public and enter them into the congressional record. The Epstein investigation has emerged as one of the most politically perilous issues for the president, who last year faced backlash from his own supporters for not initially releasing files related to the Epstein investigation despite promising to on the campaign trail.
“We agree with first lady Melania Trump’s call for a public hearing with the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (California), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
He called on Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), the chair of the committee, to schedule a hearing. Comer’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether the congressman plans to invite victims to testify.
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