In a rare public statement, first lady Melania Trump said Thursday she “never had a relationship” with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein or his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
In her remarks at the White House, she said numerous “fake images and statements about Epstein and me” have been circulating on social media.
Her statement was brief, but it was notable. The first lady is cautious in her public remarks and with her public image. A number of her aides gathered to watch her statement in the Grand Foyer of the White House, but several of them did not know what she was going to say beforehand.
It was the first time Melania Trump had spoken about the Epstein controversy on camera, but staff members have been aggressive about knocking down what they call “defamatory” Epstein rumors.
Senior adviser Marc Beckman said in a statement that the first lady decided to speak out now because “enough is enough” and “the lies must stop.”
“It is time for the public and media to focus on her incredible achievements as First Lady, the lives she has positively impacted, and her commitment to our nation,” Beckman said.
The Justice Department told the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that former Attorney General Pam Bondi will not comply with a subpoena to testify before the panel next week.
“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,” Melania Trump said.
She called on Congress to provide the Epstein survivors with a public hearing.
“Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony. Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional Record,” she said. “Then, and only then, we will have the truth.”
In her comments, she referred to an email reply she once sent to Maxwell, saying that “it cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence.”
The first lady said that she is not an Epstein victim and that he did not introduce her to her husband, President Donald Trump. She said the first time she crossed paths with Epstein was in 2000 at an event she and Trump attended together. “At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings,” she said.
She appeared to be referring to an email released by the Justice Department from October 2002 in which she purportedly wrote: “Dear G! How are you? Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great on the picture. I know you are very busy flying all over the world. How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY. Have a great time! Love, Melania.” The email addresses for the sender and the recipient are redacted in the public document.
An attorney for Maxwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The GOP-led House Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The top Democrat on the panel, Robert Garcia, of California, said on X after Melania Trump’s statement that Democrats agree with her call for a public hearing.
“We encourage Chairman Comer to respond to the First Lady’s request and schedule a public hearing immediately,” he wrote, referring to Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., a committee member outspoken about bringing accountability to Epstein survivors, thanked the first lady on X and echoed her call for a public hearing.
“Now is the time for Congress to act,” she wrote. “Epstein was not alone. Several prominent male executives resigned from their powerful positions after this matter became widely politicized. Of course, this doesn’t amount to guilt, but we still must work openly and transparently to uncover the truth.”
A group of Epstein survivors, including Danielle Bensky and Annie Farmer, as well as the late Virginia Giuffre’s relatives Sky and Amanda Roberts, dismissed the first lady’s call for a survivor-focused public hearing.
“Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein have already shown extraordinary courage by coming forward, filing reports, and giving testimony. Asking more of them now is a deflection of responsibility, not justice,” their statement read, adding that the first lady’s remarks divert attention from Bondi’s role overseeing the botched release of records under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which the president signed into law in November.
“First Lady Melania Trump is now shifting the burden onto survivors under politicized conditions that protect those with power: the Department of Justice, law enforcement, prosecutors, and the Trump Administration, which has still not fully complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” the statement said. “Survivors have done their part. Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs.”
The White House and Beckman did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the survivors’ statement.
The first lady’s public remarks also come about six months after author Michael Wolff sued her, alleging she threatened a $1 billion lawsuit over statements he had made about her and Epstein. Melania Trump’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case in January, but a federal judge has yet to rule.
In a phone call Thursday with NBC News, Wolff said he has no forthcoming book or video release that he believes would cause her to speak about Epstein now, adding that he was “totally caught out of the blue” by her statement.
President Trump, who has repeatedly called the Epstein files a “hoax,” told MS NOW in a phone call that he did not know about his wife’s statement before she delivered it.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said April 2 – the day he assumed the top Justice Department post after Bondi was fired – that he did not think the Epstein files should be a part of “anything” at the Justice Department moving forward.
“I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the last year of this Justice Department, it will – should not be a part of anything going forward,” he said in an interview with Fox News.
President Trump has similarly said it is time to move on from Epstein, telling reporters in February, “I think it’s really time for the country to get onto something else.”
Authorities have not accused the president, whose name appears numerous times in the millions of pages the Justice Department released, of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
