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By Gabe Whisnant
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First lady Melania Trump on Thursday denied any ties to Jeffrey Epstein or knowledge of his crimes, calling reports linking her to the late sex trafficker “completely false” and accusing critics of smearing her reputation.
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” Trump said in a five-minute statement delivered at the White House. “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”
Reading what aides described as an extraordinary statement, Trump said she was never associated with Epstein and emphasized that legal action has already been taken to counter such claims.
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“My attorneys and I have fought these unfounded and baseless lies with success,” she said.
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Melania Trump also called on Congress to hold a public hearing focused on survivors of Epstein’s crimes, urging lawmakers to allow victims to testify and have their accounts entered into the public record.
“Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public if she wishes,” she said. “Then, and only then, we will have the truth.”
The announcement sent shock waves across the political spectrum.
Later Thursday, President Donald Trump said that he didn't "know anything about" the speech.
“She didn’t know him (Epstein),” the president added to MSNOW's Jacqueline Alemany, who reported on X that Donald Trump was in a meeting about the Iran war and couldn’t speak further.
However, a spokesperson for Melania Trump told the New York Times that the "president was aware that his wife was going to make a statement."
The official White House X account reshared the video announcement. White House officials have not commented on whether the president had prior knowledge of the first lady's comments.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email on Thursday evening for comment.
What Melania Trump Said About Jeffrey Epstein Allegations
Melania Trump said she was not friends with Epstein or his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, but acknowledged overlap with them in social circles in New York and Florida. She referenced an email reply she once sent to Maxwell, describing it as insignificant.
“My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trifle,” she said.
She also said that she has no ties to Epstein, the late financier who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, and no knowledge of his crimes. The first lady rejected any suggestion of a connection as “false smears” and said such allegations “must stop.”
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Is Melania Trump in the Epstein Files? What We Know
Among the records released by the Justice Department was a brief email dated 2002, with the sender’s and recipient’s names redacted. The message begins, “Dear G!” and ends, “Love, Melania,” and praises the recipient, largely believed to be Maxwell, for a magazine article about “JE.” The email reads in part, “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.”
The email was sent the same month New York Magazine published a profile of Epstein in which Donald Trump described the financier as a “terrific guy.” Other documents released by the department included an image taken inside Epstein’s home showing framed photographs arranged along a credenza and inside desk drawers. In one drawer, among several photographs, was an image showing Trump with Epstein, Melania Trump and Maxwell.
In recent years, document releases and online speculation have fueled broad claims about high‑profile figures, but legal experts and fact‑checking organizations have cautioned that social proximity or unverified references do not establish wrongdoing. To date, no court has found any link between Melania Trump and Epstein’s criminal activities.
The first lady's statement came as the Trump administration appeared to be moving past months of controversy surrounding Epstein, whose case has rippled through U.S. politics. The issue had recently been overshadowed by the war in Iran and other major developments, though the first lady’s remarks could return it to the political foreground.
Has Melania Trump Been Photographed with Jeffrey Epstein?
A legitimate photograph exists showing Donald Trump, Melania (then Melania Knauss), Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell together at a party at Mar-a-Lago in 2000.
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Donald Trump's Links to Jeffrey Epstein
Donald Trump has acknowledged knowing Jeffrey Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s, when both men were part of overlapping wealthy social circles in New York and Palm Beach, Florida. Video footage and photographs from that period show the two attending events at Trump’s Mar‑a‑Lago resort, and Trump once characterized Epstein as someone he had known “for 15 years” in a 2002 interview, though he later said the relationship ended years before Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges.
Trump has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has said he cut ties with the financier long before Epstein’s legal trouble became public. The president has offered varying explanations for their falling out, including disputes over staffing at Mar‑a‑Lago and business disagreements. While Trump’s past social connection to Epstein has drawn scrutiny, no court has found Trump to be involved in Epstein’s criminal conduct, and he has not been charged in connection with Epstein’s trafficking case.
Where do the Epstein Investigations Stand?
The Justice Department has said it has largely completed its criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021, and has released millions of pages of records under the Epstein Files Transparency Act while continuing to redact material to protect victim privacy and any ongoing matters. Congress, however, has pursued its own investigation, with the House Oversight Committee issuing subpoenas, taking closed‑door testimony from high‑profile figures — including former President Bill Clinton — and seeking access to unredacted files amid concerns that powerful individuals may have been shielded from scrutiny.
Democrats said they agreed with Melania Trump’s call for a congressional hearing, quickly embracing her remarks. In a social media post, Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee investigating the Epstein case, urged the panel’s Republican chair, Representative James Comer of Kentucky, to schedule a public hearing “immediately.”
Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, who sponsored legislation that led to the release of millions of Epstein-related documents, shifted attention to the Justice Department, saying it is the attorney general’s responsibility to bring survivors forward for testimony. Massie, who has repeatedly called for further prosecutions in the case, ended one post Thursday with a single demand: “PROSECUTE!”
Updates: 4/9/26, 4:13 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.
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