First Lady Melania Trump, addressing voters from the Grand Foyer of the White House in a surprise televised address, rejected any relationships in any way personal or professional with the alleged sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Referring to what she called “unfounded and baseless lies,” Mrs. Trump tried to distance herself from the established social networks that had once been close to the disgraced financier. The statement comes at a time when scrutiny reigns after the Epstein Files Transparency Act came into effect in 2025 that revealed millions of documents relating to Epstein’s network.
"The Lies Need to End"
The First Lady’s rhetoric was blunt, saying the rumors that connected her to Epstein’s criminal enterprise were also “smears” designed to smear her reputation. “Those lies tying me to the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein must end today,” she said. “I have never been in a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell. My name exists in no court documents, depositions, or FBI interviews about this matter.”
She conceded that although she and President Donald Trump might have been offered access to similar social activities as Epstein did in New York and Palm Beach, those encounters were a product of “overlapping social circles” and had no underlying connection.
A Briefly Spoke Reply to the "Casual" Correspondence
Mrs Trump also responded to a particular email exchange published in 2002 within Justice Department files. The email, directed to Maxwell, mentioned a magazine profile of Epstein and travel arrangements. The First Lady characterized the note as “trivial” and “casual correspondence,” insisting that it did not represent a friendship or business relationship. She further clarified:
Meeting the President
Epstein never introduced her to Donald Trump, she said, insisting they met at a New York party in 1998 through other channels. The Private Plane: She clearly claimed she was never a passenger on Epstein’s private airplane – though, according to flight logs, her husband’s name shows up on those logs in the mid-1990s.
Knowledge of Crimes
She kept insisting she had zero knowledge at all on Epstein’s abuse of minors or his human trafficking operations. The First Lady Calls for Congressional Action In the end, she called on Congress to hold a public hearing to give redress for the survivors of Epstein’s crimes. She said that the only way to get past the political “politicization” of the scandal was through transparency. “Every woman deserves to have her day to tell her story in public as she chooses,” she said in a statement.
“Until then, and that’s going to be it, then we will know the truth.” The address is among the First Lady’s most combative legal and public relations moves since returning to the White House. Her law firm has already won retractions from several media organizations and writers alleging the same things, and it is clear that the administration will bring any further allegations about connections to the Epstein scandal against them.
