By Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) – First lady Melania Trump on Thursday denied ever having ties to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reviving a highly volatile issue that her husband has repeatedly sought to downplay.
She denied online speculation that Epstein had introduced her to Donald Trump and said she was not one of Epstein’s victims. She also urged Congress to provide public hearings for Epstein victims to tell their stories under oath.
“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.
The extraordinary address, delivered beneath the presidential seal in the White House foyer, brings fresh scrutiny to the Epstein case, which has roiled Trump’s presidency as his supporters accuse his administration of mishandling disclosures from government files.
Trump last week fired his attorney general, Pam Bondi, a particular target of ire for Trump loyalists after the Justice Department slow-walked the release of millions of files related to the Epstein case.
Melania Trump did not say why she chose to speak out on Thursday, as the Epstein saga had largely receded from the headlines amid the U.S.-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.”
Trump, a onetime friend who said he cut ties with Epstein in the early 2000s. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was facing federal charges of sex-trafficking minors when he died by what was ruled a suicide in jail in 2019.
The first lady said she had never had a relationship with Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, with whom she said she had only a casual correspondence.
“I never been friends with Epstein. 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,” she said. “To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell.
“I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband, by chance, at a New York City party in 1998,” she said.
Evidence in multiple legal and criminal cases has shed light on Epstein’s ties to many prominent people in politics, finance and business – both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges, including soliciting an underage girl.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Jasper Ward, writing by Doina Chiacu and Michelle Nichols; editing by Scott Malone, Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)
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