Melania Trump made a White House statement denying knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump is denying an affair with Jeffrey Epstein and knowledge of his sex crimes, saying Thursday that “the stories are completely false” and calling allegations that he was somehow involved “a stink about me.”

Reading an extraordinary statement at the White House, Melania Trump said she and her lawyers were fighting “baseless and baseless lies” about her relationship with the late financier, a convicted sex offender who took advantage of his connections with the rich, powerful and famous to cover up his crimes.

“I need to end today the lies linking me with the disgraced Jeffrey Epstein,” she said. “People who lie about me are devoid of moral standards, modesty and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, rather I reject their callous attempts to discredit my reputation.”

Her husband, President Donald Trump, and his administration finally came out with a seemingly blue message after more than a year of controversy surrounding Epstein, especially as the Iran war became all-consuming in Washington. Although the president urged the public and the media to move on from the case, the first lady’s comments almost certainly served to push the story into the political spotlight.

The White House used its X account to re-share a video of Melania Trump’s first lady’s office reading her statement. White House officials did not respond to requests for comment on whether the president had prior knowledge of the first lady’s comments.

The first lady called for congressional hearings for Epstein victims

The first lady spoke for about five minutes after reading her statement in the grand foyer, then walked away without taking questions. She did not elaborate on the allegations leveled against her but said that they came from individuals and organizations who sought to harm my good name. He said that they are financially and politically motivated.

Melania Trump also called on Congress to hold public hearings focused on survivors of Epstein’s crimes, with a chance to testify before lawmakers and have their stories entered into the congressional record.

“Every woman should have a day to tell her story publicly if she wants to,” she said. “Then, and only then, will we have the truth.”

Two of Epstein’s accusers, Maria and Annie Farmer, responded to the first lady’s comments, saying, “What we want is accountability, transparency and justice.”

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, a Georgia Republican and onetime staunch Trump supporter who resigned from Congress after publicly falling out with the president, posted on X, “I am grateful to the First Lady for her courageous statement today about Epstein and his victims.”

Democrats jumped on Melania Trump’s comments, saying they agreed with her call for congressional hearings. In a social media post, Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee that is investigating Epstein, said the committee’s Republican chairman, Rep. James called on Comer to schedule a public hearing “immediately.”

Rep. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who sponsored the bill that would prompt the release of millions of Epstein documents, pointed to the Justice Department and said it was the attorney general’s job to bring survivors to testify. In a social media post, Massey, who has pushed for more arrests in the Epstein case, said, “Indictment!” A social media post ended with a call to.

Questions about Epstein’s access have roiled the administration and divided Republicans, with some pushing back at Trump’s MAGA base to press the government to release more files and prosecute people associated with the financier.

The issue has dogged Trump and fractured some of his alliances, including one with Green, who was once one of Trump’s most trusted supporters in Congress. Trump dismissed the case as a “Democrat hoax” but later signed a bill to release files from Epstein’s case.

It was not immediately clear whether the first lady was prompted to revive the issue. He noted that many people and organizations should apologize for “lying about me”. The most recent of the examples he cited was in October.

In that case, book publisher HarperCollins UK apologized to the first lady and retracted parts of the book that suggested Epstein played a role in introducing her and Donald Trump.

Melania Trump has mentioned her husband several times in her comments. She said that Epstein did not introduce her to Trump and that she met her future husband in 1998 at a New York City party.

The email to Maxwell was ‘frivolous’

The first lady withdrew Epstein after federal authorities released millions of pages of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and one-time girlfriend, Maxwell.

Lawmakers complained last month that the Justice Department limited the release, but officials said more time was needed to review additional documents discovered and ensure no sensitive information about victims was released.

Melania Trump said in her statement that she was not friends with Epstein or his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, but was in overlapping social circles in New York and Florida. She described the email response to Maxwell as “casual correspondence,” without elaborating.

“My polite reply to his email was nothing more than a trivial note,” she said.

The sender and recipient have been blacked out since 2002 in documents released by the Justice Department. It begins, “Dear G!” And ends with “Love, Melania” and compliments the recipient on a magazine article about “JE”.

“I know you’re too busy flying all over the world,” it says. “How was Palm Beach? I can’t wait to go down. Call me when you get back to NY.”

That email was sent the same month that a New York magazine article about Epstein was published in which Trump called the financier a “terrible guy.”

Among the other documents released was an image of Epstein’s home showing a series of photos in credenzas and drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photo of Trump with Epstein, Melania Trump and Maxwell.

In 2019, Epstein committed suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of soliciting teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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This story has been corrected to show that Melania Trump called her correspondence with Maxwell “frivolous” rather than “frivolous.”

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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves in Washington and Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.