First lady calls on Congress to hold hearing with survivors of late financier’s abuse in statement delivered at White House
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Melania Trump, the first lady, told reporters on Thursday that she “never had a relationship” with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
It was unclear which specific accusations spurred the first lady to respond publicly. She delivered her scripted remarks at a podium in the same room Donald Trump used to address the nation on the war in Iran last week.
“I [have] never been friends with Epstein,” Trump said in her statement. “I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump.”
The first lady went on to say that she and the president were invited to the same parties as Epstein “from time to time” as “overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach”. But she specifically denied that her emails to Maxwell were anything more than “casual correspondence”.
In her statement, Trump elaborated that she only met Epstein for the first time in 2000, at a party she attended with her husband. At the time she was known as Melania Knauss. “I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings,” she said. “Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been calculating [sic] on social media for years now. Be cautious about what you believe.”
The Epstein files released by the Department of Justice earlier this year did contain one brief exchange that appeared to be between Melania Trump and Maxwell. It was signed: “Love, Melania.”
Although the email addresses of both the sender and the recipient are redacted, a second copy of the same email text also appears in another document released on Friday, which includes a reply from “G. Max”.
The first email, sent on the evening of 23 October 2002, with the subject line “HI!” begins “Dear G!”. The sender says there is a “nice story about JE in NY mag” before asking the recipient about their travels and to call them when they were back in New York.
In their reply, “G. Max” wrote that while they are already on their way back to the city they would not have time to see the sender, but they would “try and call”.
The email exchange was sent the week that New York Magazine published a flattering profile of Jeffrey Epstein that included a photograph of Maxwell with Epstein. While the article was in the 28 October 2002 edition, new issues of the magazine are published one week before the cover date.
