WASHINGTON – In denouncing "false smears" that she says unfairly connect her to Jeffrey Epstein, First Lady Melania Trump on April 9 denied having any relationship with the accused sex trafficker or "his accomplice," Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison term for her work with Epstein.
An email apparently from Trump to Maxwell nearly 24 years ago suggests otherwise.
On Oct. 23, 2002, someone named "Melania" messages with someone named "Gl" at 7:40 p.m., according to a PDF of the email uploaded to the Justice Department's massive trove of Epstein files made public after Congress forced the department to release them.
"Dear GI How are you? Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great on the picture," the woman who identifies herself as Melania writes. "I know you are very busy flying all over the world. How was Palm Beach?"
"I cannot wait to go down," the "Melania" writer adds. "Give me a call when you are back in NY. Have a great time! Love, Melania."
The names of both the sender and recipient are blacked out despite the Justice Department's promises to be as transparent as possible in its redactions of the files. In February, in response to criticism of some of the victim names in the files, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department was doing its best to ensure that it "just unredacted all non-victim names."
But in a response dated Jan. 1, 2003, someone named G. Max replies to the "Melania" email to say, "Sweet pea -- thanks for your message. Actually plans changed again and I am now on my way back to NY."
"I leave again on Fri so I still do not think I have time to see you sadly," GMax writes. "I will try and call though. Keep well."
Friends and associates of Epstein called him JE in much of the correspondence in the 3 million-plus pages of files, and Epstein often did the same in messages he wrote. Maxwell is also called by the initials GI in some of the files.
Over the years, at least one photo circulating widely shows Melania Trump, Epstein, Maxwell − and President Donald Trump − together. The photo is also included in the Justice Department's files.
In her remarks April 9, Trump said, "To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell."
"My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence," Trump added. "My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note."
