Melania Trump stepped in front of White House cameras Thursday afternoon and denied, on the record, that she had close ties to Jeffrey Epstein or that the convicted sex offender had introduced her to Donald Trump.
“I am not Epstein’s victim,” the first lady said in a rare prepared statement. “Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump.”
She didn’t take questions.
The statement came roughly a day after the Justice Department said former Attorney General Pam Bondi would not appear before the House Oversight Committee to answer a subpoena about her handling of DOJ documents related to Epstein. That subpoena was scheduled for April 14.
Melania Trump’s name appears in the most recent batch of Epstein-related documents, which the Justice Department released at the end of January. Those files included a heavily redacted FBI interview containing the claim that Epstein introduced the Trumps to each other. It wasn’t immediately clear what specifically prompted the first lady to address this publicly on Thursday, though the timing puts it squarely in the middle of ongoing congressional pressure over how the Epstein documents have been handled.
Among the documents is what appears to be an email Melania Trump sent to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s co-conspirator who was convicted on sex-trafficking charges in 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year sentence. In the email, Melania Trump compliments Maxwell’s appearance in a photo and writes, “give me a call when you are back in NY,” signing off “Love, Melania.”
She addressed it directly.
“My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence,” Melania Trump said. “My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note.”
The first lady said she first met Epstein in 2000, at an event she attended with Donald Trump. Beyond that, she said, there was no meaningful connection.
“I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims,” she said. “I was never involved in any capacity.”
President Trump is also named in the files. An NPR investigation earlier this year found that some documents naming the president had been withheld from the initial release, and were only published later. Trump has also denied any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s alleged crimes. The two men were once friends before having a falling out.
Still, the most pointed part of Thursday’s statement wasn’t the denial. It was the call to action.
“Epstein was not alone,” Melania Trump said. “I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors. Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress.”
She asked Congress “to act” and create a public forum for Epstein’s victims to speak. Whether that gains any traction on Capitol Hill is another question entirely.
The first lady also pushed back on what she described as fabricated content circulating online. “Fake images and statements” about her and Epstein have been spreading on social media, she said, urging people to be skeptical of what they see. “Be cautious about what you believe,” she said. “These images and stories are completely false.”
Public statements from Melania Trump are infrequent by any modern standard. She has kept a notably low profile compared to previous first ladies, and Thursday’s appearance, scripted and camera-ready but closed to reporter questions, fit that pattern even while breaking it. The Office of the First Lady has not released additional comment.
The broader Epstein document saga has moved unevenly through official channels since the files began surfacing. Congress has been pushing for more transparency around what the DOJ holds and what it’s chosen to release, and the Bondi subpoena fight adds another layer to a process that has frustrated advocates for victims and transparency groups alike.
As LAist reported, the statement came Thursday afternoon and Melania Trump did not answer any follow-up questions after delivering it.
What happens next with the congressional push, the withheld documents, or Bondi’s refusal to appear is still playing out. For now, the first lady has put her position on record. Whether anyone on Capitol Hill actually schedules the hearings she called for is a different matter.