WASHINGTON: First lady Melania Trump on Thursday denied having any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and said she was not one of his victims, putting the Epstein issue back in the spotlight after her husband tried to put it behind him.
She denied online speculation that the disgraced financier and sex offender had introduced her to Donald Trump, saying she had met her husband at a party in New York City in 1998, two years before she crossed paths with Epstein at another event she attended with Trump.
He also urged Congress to hold public hearings for Epstein’s victims to tell their stories under oath, raising the possibility of drawing more public attention to an issue the president wants to sideline.
“The lies linking me to the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein must end today,” Melania Trump said, reading a statement and refusing to answer questions from reporters.
“I’m not Epstein’s victim,” he said, responding to what he said were false slanders against him.
His extraordinary speech, delivered under the presidential seal in the White House lobby, renews scrutiny of the Epstein case that has rocked Donald Trump’s presidency, as even some supporters say his administration mishandled revelations of government files.
Last week, the president fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had drawn the ire of Trump loyalists over the Justice Department’s slow release of millions of files related to Epstein.
Trump, a former friend of Epstein who said he cut ties with the financier in the early 2000s, is among many famous people — celebrities, politicians and intellectuals — named in government files.
Melania Trump did not say why she decided to speak out Thursday, resurrecting an issue that had largely disappeared from the headlines amid the US-Israel war against Iran.
But Marc Beckman, his senior adviser, said Reuters in a statement: “First Lady Melania Trump spoke out now because enough is enough. The lies must end.”
A spokesman for the first lady said Trump’s advisers were informed of her plans for Thursday’s statement.
“This took guts”
While first ladies have occasionally addressed the nation on political issues, Melania Trump’s statement was exceptional.
“A first lady in contemporary times has not publicly addressed the controversy in this way, and certainly never from the White House, so this took guts,” said Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden.
“Melania is very intentional and deliberate about the frequency of her appearances, and I think this event will speak so loudly that I don’t think she needs to address this again,” LaRosa added in an interview.
The first lady said she had never had a relationship with Epstein or his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, with whom she said she had only a casual correspondence.
Melania Trump said she first “crossed paths” with Epstein in 2000 at an event she attended with Donald Trump, five years before their marriage.
“At that time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal activities,” he said.
Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to two felonies in Florida, including recruiting a minor for prostitution, was facing federal charges of sex trafficking of minors in 2019, when he died in jail in what was ruled a suicide.
“I have never been friends with Epstein,” Melania Trump said. “Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, as overlapping social circles are common in New York City and Palm Beach.”
The first lady dodged a question about Maxwell’s victims at an event with former Hamas captives in Gaza this year.
The president has tried for months to put discussions about Epstein behind him.
“I think it’s really time for the country to move on, now that nothing has come out about me,” Trump said in February.
Release of files
The Trump administration, under pressure from the president’s political base, ordered the US Department of Justice to release files linked to Epstein’s criminal investigations in compliance with a transparency law passed by Congress.
The files include a 2002 email from Melania Trump to Maxwell about a New York Magazine article about Epstein.
“Nice story about JE in NY Magazine. You look great in the photo,” the email says. “Call me when you’re back in New York.”
On Thursday, Melania Trump described her email to Maxwell as simply “informal correspondence” and “a trivial note.”
A Reuters/Ipsos poll in January showed that only 21% of respondents approved of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files.
A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll in February showed that three-quarters of Americans, including two-thirds of Republicans, believe the federal government is withholding information about Epstein’s alleged clients.
About a dozen Epstein survivors opposed Melania Trump’s proposal to hold public hearings, saying in a statement that they had already done enough to publicize Epstein’s crimes through testimony and reports and that it was up to the US Department of Justice to follow up. They also called on the Trump administration to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
