First Lady Melania Trump firmly denied any connection to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, reigniting a sensitive topic that her husband has sought to minimize.
She dismissed online rumors suggesting Epstein introduced her to Donald Trump, clarifying that she met her husband at a New York City party in 1998. “I am not Epstein’s victim,” she asserted, urging Congress to hold public hearings for Epstein’s victims to share their experiences under oath.
“The falsehoods associating me with the reprehensible Jeffrey Epstein must end today,” Melania Trump stated, reading from a prepared statement and refraining from answering reporters’ questions.
Her remarkable address, delivered under the presidential seal in the White House foyer, draws renewed attention to the Epstein case, which has complicated Trump’s presidency as supporters criticize his administration’s management of disclosures from government files.
Last week, Trump dismissed Attorney General Pam Bondi, who faced backlash from loyalists due to the Justice Department’s slow release of millions of files related to Epstein.
Trump, who previously counted Epstein as a friend before severing ties in the early 2000s, finds himself among numerous prominent figures—celebrities, politicians, and intellectuals—named in the government documents.
Melania Trump did not elaborate on her decision to speak out now, especially as the Epstein saga faded from the headlines amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.
However, her senior adviser Marc Beckman told Reuters, “First Lady Melania Trump spoke out now because enough is enough. The lies must stop.”
The First Lady reiterated that she had no relationship with Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, with whom she claimed to have had only casual correspondence.
She recalled first encountering Epstein in 2000 at an event she attended with her husband, stating, “At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal activities.”
Epstein, a convicted sex offender, faced federal charges of sex trafficking minors when he died in jail in 2019, ruled a suicide.
“I have never been friends with Epstein. Donald and I occasionally attended the same parties as Epstein due to our overlapping social circles in New York City and Palm Beach,” she explained.
“To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell. I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998,” she clarified.
The First Lady avoided a question regarding Maxwell’s victims during an earlier event with former Hamas captives in Gaza.
Meanwhile, President Trump, focused on the war in Iran, has long sought to move past discussions about Epstein. “I think it’s really time for the country to focus on something else, now that nothing has emerged about me,” he remarked in February when asked about the victims’ reactions to the Justice Department’s file releases.
Under pressure from Trump’s political base, the administration mandated the U.S. Justice Department to release files related to criminal investigations of Epstein, complying with a transparency law enacted by Congress. Among the documents is a 2002 email from Melania Trump to Maxwell about a New York Magazine article on Epstein. “Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great in the picture,” the email reads, concluding with, “Give me a call when you are back in NY.” Melania described her email to Maxwell as merely “casual correspondence,” emphasizing, “My polite reply doesn’t signify anything beyond a trivial note.”
A January Reuters/Ipsos poll indicated that only 21% of respondents approved of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files. A subsequent poll in February revealed that three-quarters of Americans, including two-thirds of Republicans, suspect the federal government is concealing information about Epstein’s alleged clients. President Trump has maintained that he was unaware of Epstein’s sexual abuses.
Previously released records show Trump traveled on Epstein’s plane several times in the 1990s, a claim he has denied. Following the initial accusations against Epstein, Trump reportedly called the Palm Beach police chief to state that “everyone has known he’s been doing this,” according to an FBI interview record.
