WASHINGTON, Apr 10 — First lady of the United States Melania Trump yesterday denied having any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and said she was not one of his victims, bringing renewed attention to the case after her husband sought to move past it.
She dismissed online speculation that the disgraced financier and sex offender introduced her to Donald Trump, saying she met her husband at a New York City party in 1998, two years before she crossed paths with Epstein at another event attended with him.
She also urged Congress to hold public hearings for Epstein victims to testify under oath, raising the prospect of further scrutiny over an issue the US president has sought to put behind him.
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” Melania Trump said, reading a statement and declining to take questions.
“I am not Epstein’s victim,” she added.
In an unusual public address delivered in the White House foyer, Melania Trump said she had never had a relationship with Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, describing any contact as minimal.
She said she first “crossed paths” with Epstein in 2000 at an event she attended with Donald Trump, and insisted she had no knowledge of his criminal activities at the time.
Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to sex-related charges in Florida, was later facing federal sex-trafficking charges when he died in jail in 2019, in what was ruled a suicide.
The first lady said her email to Maxwell, included in previously released government files, was “casual correspondence” and a “trivial note”.
She also called for Congress to hold public hearings for victims, an intervention that could prolong political attention on the Epstein case as pressure continues over the release of related government files.
