April 10, 2026
Melania Trump Rejects ‘Lies’ Linking Her To Jeffrey Epstein In Unexpected Public Address
This is the first time the first lady has spoken about the Epstein controversy on camera, with staff members allegedly being aggressive about her knocking down the "defamatory" Epstein rumors.
In a rare public appearance, first lady Melania Trump spoke out against the “lies” tying her to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
During her short April 9 speech at the White House, Trump demanded that the alleged lies linking her to “the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein” need to end. She claimed she was never friends with the disgraced financier but admitted she and her husband, President Donald Trump, were invited to parties from time to time. “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,” she said.
“My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trial note.”
Trump then continued to shy away from being labeled as one of Epstein’s victims, and he wasn’t responsible for introducing her to her now-husband. She also claimed to have had “no knowledge of his criminal undertakings” and continued to push that images of her and Epstein were fake. “Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been circulating on social media for years now. Be cautious about what you believe,” Trump said.
“These images and stories are completely false. I’m not a witness or a main witness in connection with any of Epstein’s crimes. I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity.”
According to NBC News, this is the first time the first lady has spoken about the Epstein controversy on camera, with staff members allegedly being aggressive about her knocking down the “defamatory” Epstein rumors and lies. Senior adviser Marc Beckman said, “Enough is enough. It is time for the public and media to focus on her incredible achievements as First Lady, the lives she has positively impacted, and her commitment to our nation,” Beckman said in a statement.
Before stepping away from the podium, the first lady urged Congress to act and give the Epstein survivors a public hearing. “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,” she said.
“Then, and only then, we will have the truth.”
The statement comes as polls show members of the Republican Party, who hold the majority in Congress, have shied away from having any concern over Epstein matters. Data from a Marquette University Law School poll conducted before the January 30 document release showed that 50% of GOP members or Republican-leaning independents claim they heard of or read “a lot” about the Epstein files, compared with 72% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters.
While the president has yet to make a statement on his wife’s speech — outside of saying he has no clue about his wife’s statement prior to her delivering it — several members of Congress spoke out, thanking her for her leadership and urging colleagues to follow up on her requests. “Now is the time for Congress to act,” South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace wrote on X.
“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.”
However, some of Epstein’s alleged victims, Danielle Bensky, Annie Farmer, and relatives of the late Virginia Giuffre, dismissed her calls about the hearings and alleged lies. “First Lady Melania Trump is now shifting the burden onto survivors under politicized conditions that protect those with power: the Department of Justice, law enforcement, prosecutors, and the Trump Administration, which has still not fully complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” the statement said.
“Survivors have done their part. Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs.”
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