“Never had a relationship with Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell’: Melania Trump denies being a victim of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein or being associated with him

On Thursday (10th April), the US First Lady, Melania Trump, issued a rare public statement wherein she denied association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Melania Trump said that she was neither Epstein’s victim nor was introduced by him to her husband and US President Donald Trump. “The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today…I have 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,” Trump stated. RARE PRESS CONFERENCE BY FLOTUS MELANIA TRUMP.Good afternoon.The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather, I… pic.twitter.com/f5sdEltv2m— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) April 10, 2026 Melania Trump also denied having any links with Ghislaine Maxwell, the main accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein. “To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell.  My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence.  My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note. 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.  This initial encounter with my husband is documented in detail in my book, MELANIA.  The first time I crossed paths with Epstein was in the year 2000, at an event Donald and I attended together.  At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings,” Trump stated. Melania Trump added that numerous fake images and statements about Jeffrey Epstein and her have been circulating on social media for years now. Further refuting the allegations of her association with Epstein, Trump said, “I am not a witness or a named witness in connection with any of Epstein’s crimes.  My name has never appeared in court documents, depositions, victim statements, or FBI interviews surrounding the Epstein matter. I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims.  I was never involved in any capacity—I was not a participant, was never on Epstein’s plane, and never visited his private island.” “I have never been legally accused or convicted of a crime in connection with Epstein’s sex trafficking, abuse of minors, and other repulsive behavior,” she continued. The US First Lady also highlighted how “several individuals and companies have been legally obligated to publicly apologize and retract their lies about me, such as The Daily Beast, James Carville, and Harper Collins UK.” Melania Trump demands a congressional hearing Reading her statement in the Grand Foyer on Thursday, Melania Trump called for a congressional hearing focused on  survivors of Epstein’s crimes, saying that the accusations against her came from “individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name.” The US First Lady added that those behind targeting her are financially and politically motivated. “Now is the time for Congress to act.  Epstein was not alone.  Several prominent male executives resigned from their powerful positions after this matter became widely politicized.  Of course, this doesn’t amount to guilt, but we still must work openly and transparently to uncover the truth,” she 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, with the power of sworn testimony.  Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional Record. Then, and only then, will we have the truth,” added. Melania Trump did not take media questions after reading her statement on Thursday at the Grand Foyer of the White House. Her call for a congressional hearing on the matter is significant, as lying there will be a crime of perjury. Melania Trump’s name appears multiple times in the Epstein Files The US First Lady’s statement comes after the Department of Justice confirmed that former Attorney General Pam Bondi would not be appearing for a subpoena before the House Oversight Committee on 14th April. The subpoena addressed Bondi’s handling of the DOJ documents about Epstein. The controversy began when Melania Trump’s name appeared in the tranche of Epstein files documents published in January this year. Donald Trump’s name had also appeared in the files. While Melania Trump claimed to have had only a passing acquaintance with Jeffry Epstein, she was photographed with Jeffrey Epstein several times at a party at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago beach club in 2000. A partially redacted 2002 email exchange reportedly between Melania Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell was posted online in January this year by the US Justice Department. “Sweet pea thanks for your message. Actually plans changed again and I am now on my way back to NY. I leave again on Fri so I still do not think I have time to see you sadly. I will try and call though. Keep wellGxAt 03:40 PM 10/23/2002-0400, you wrote:Dear G! How are you? Nice story about JE in NY mag.You look great on the picture. I know you are very busy flying all over the world. How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to godown. Give me a call when you are back in NY. Have a great time! Love, Melania ,” the US DOJ-released email file reads. A purported email sent to Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, shows Melania Trump lauding how Maxwell looked in a photo.  “Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great on the picture. I know you are very busy flying all over the world. How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY. Have a great time! Love, Melania,” Melania Trump wrote. Interestingly, Melania Trump admitted to having written a friendly email to Maxwell during a media interaction on Thursday. However, she made no mention of the email in which she praised a profile of Jeffrey Epstein in New York magazine in 2002 as a “nice story”. The profile contained a quote from Donald Trump, heaping praises on Epstein. Another email sent by “Jeffrey E.” to author Michael Wolf reads, “achlles heal , melania, transcipt. melania also focused on dates of porn star, before birth of baron or after. . they also now have two army people escorting her to kids school :)” Another controversial email mentioning Melania Trump’s name, sent to Jeffery Epstein in 2016, reads, “I remember flying back with Donald on his plane the first weekend I went to v=sit you in Florida was the weekend he met Melania and he kept on coming out=of the bedroom saying ‘ wow what a hot piece of ass’.” Who was Jeffrey Epstein? Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier who was convicted by a Florida state court for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. He served 13 months in jail and was arrested again in July 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York. He died a month later in August while undergoing trial. Authorities deemed the death a suicide, but there have been questions around the circumstances and handling. Epstein files are investigative documents containing files, records, videos, and contacts compiled by federal agencies during the investigation into Epstein’s criminal activities. The files are said to contain flight logs from Epstein’s private aircraft, contact lists, accounting records, and even video evidence of abuse. During his presidential election campaign, Donald Trump promised to release the Epstein Files in public, which would have exposed numerous celebrities who were at some point in time involved in sexual abuse at Epstein’s Island. Trump himself was reported to have had links with Jeffrey Epstein. While biographer Michael Wolf has consistently been levelling serious allegations against Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump regarding their relations with Jeffrey Epstein and his sexual abuse scandal, with Melania threatening a $1 billion lawsuit, the fresh controversy erupted after the release of another tranche of Epstein files January this year. Back in 2017, Michael Wolf claimed that Jeffrey Epstein told author Michael Wolff he “had sex with Melania a full year before” she met Donald Trump. Wolf also claimed that Trump and Melania’s first encounter was on Epstein’s plane, Lolita Express. Melania had strongly denied these claims back then. With Melana Trump’s fresh statement and online chatter, conspiracy theories have picked up steam again.