US First lady Melania Trump denied on Thursday that she had any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and said she was not one of his victims, thrusting the Epstein matter back into the spotlight after her husband had sought to put it behind him.
She denied online speculation that the disgraced financier and sex offender had introduced her to Donald Trump, saying she had met her husband at a New York City party in 1998, two years before crossing paths with Epstein at another event she attended with Trump.
She also urged Congress to hold public hearings for Epstein victims to tell their stories under oath, raising the prospect of further public attention on an issue the president wants to go away.
"The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today," Melania Trump said, reading a statement and declining to take questions from reporters.
"I am not Epstein's victim," she said, responding to what she said were false smears against her.
Her extraordinary address, delivered under the presidential seal in the White House foyer, renews scrutiny of the Epstein case that has roiled Donald Trump's presidency as even some supporters say his administration mishandled disclosures from government files.
Last week, the president fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had drawn the ire of Trump loyalists over the Justice Department’s slow release of millions of Epstein‑related files.
Trump, a onetime friend of Epstein who said he cut ties with the financier in the early 2000s, is among many famous people - celebrities, politicians and intellectuals - named in the government files.
Melania Trump did not say why she chose to speak out on Thursday, resurrecting an issue that had largely slipped from the headlines amid the US-Israeli war against Iran.
But Marc Beckman, her senior adviser, told Reuters in a statement: "First Lady Melania Trump spoke out now because enough is enough. The lies must stop."
A spokesperson for the first lady said Trump's aides were made aware of her plans for Thursday's statement.
'This took guts'
While first ladies have occasionally addressed the nation on political issues, Melania Trump's statement was exceptional.
"A first lady in contemporary times has not publicly addressed controversy in this way, and certainly never from the state floor of the White House, so this took guts," said Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden.
"Melania is very intentional and deliberative on the frequency of her appearances, and I think this event is going to speak so loudly that I don't think she will need to address this again," LaRosa added in an interview.
The first lady said she had never had a relationship with Epstein or his convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell, with whom she said she had only a casual correspondence.
Melania Trump said she first "crossed paths" with Epstein in 2000 at an event she attended with Donald Trump, five years before their marriage.
"At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings," she said.
Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to two Florida felonies, including procurement of a minor for prostitution, was facing federal charges of sex-trafficking minors in 2019, when he died in jail in what was ruled a suicide.
"I have never been friends with Epstein," Melania Trump said. "Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach."
The first lady sidestepped a question this year about the victims of Maxwell at an event with former captives of Hamas in Gaza.
The president has sought for months to move past discussions about Epstein.
"I think it's really time for the country to get on to something else, really, now that nothing came out about me," Trump said in February.
Release of the files
The Trump administration, under pressure from the president's political base, ordered the US Justice Department to release files tied to criminal probes of Epstein in compliance with a transparency law passed by Congress.
The files include a 2002 email from Melania Trump to Maxwell about a New York Magazine piece on Epstein.
"Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great on the picture," the email reads. "Give me a call when you are back in NY."
On Thursday, Melania Trump described her email to Maxwell as just "casual correspondence," and "a trivial note."
A Reuters/Ipsos poll in January showed only 21% of respondents approved of Trump's handling of the Epstein files.
A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll in February showed three-quarters of Americans, including two-thirds of Republicans, believe the federal government is hiding information about the alleged clients of Epstein.
Around a dozen Epstein survivors opposed Melania Trump’s proposal for public hearings, saying in a statement they had already done enough to publicize Epstein’s crimes through testimony and reports and that it was up to the US Justice Department to follow through. They also called on the Trump administration to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
