Bernd Debusmann Jr.at the White House
First lady Melania Trump has denied any connection to Jeffrey Epstein, telling reporters at the White House that any claims linking the two “must stop today.”
In a surprise announcement Thursday, the first lady requested congressional hearings for survivors of Epstein’s sex trafficking.
She also denied online rumors that Epstein introduced her to Donald Trump, calling them “petty attempts to smear my reputation.”
It is unclear what exactly prompted this announcement.
Her office gave no prior indication that she would make a statement about Epstein, and the White House did not share the topic earlier when her remarks were placed on its daily schedule.
She said she was not a victim of Epstein, with whom she only briefly “crossed paths” in 2000.
“I was never aware of Epstein’s abuse of his victims,” she said. “I was never involved in any capacity. I didn’t participate.”
She also denied knowing Ghislaine Maxwell, the disgraced financier’s jailed associate.
She referenced a 2002 email between her and Maxwell published in the Epstein files, calling it “casual correspondence” and a “polite response.”
An email that appears to be the one she referred to is addressed to “G” – presumably for Ghislaine – and includes compliments on a story featuring “JE” with a photo of G that appeared in New York Magazine. She wrote that she “can’t wait” to go to Palm Beach.
“Call me when you get back to New York,” the email said. “Have a great time! My love, Melania”
The New York Magazine article included quotes from current President Donald Trump calling Epstein “a great guy” and saying “he’s a lot of fun to be around.”
“They even say he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are younger,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it: Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Melania Trump further called on lawmakers on Thursday to “give these victims the opportunity to testify under oath before Congress with the authority to testify under oath.”
“Every woman should have her day to tell her story in public if she chooses, and her testimony should then be permanently enshrined in the congressional record,” she said. “Then, and only then, will we have the truth.”
Several high-profile business executives have been forced to resign from their positions in recent months after new details emerged about their ties to Epstein — a fact Melania Trump referenced in her remarks.
“Of course, this does not equate to guilt, but we must nevertheless work openly and transparently to uncover the truth,” she said.
She did not respond to journalists’ questions.
In a statement released shortly after her speech, California Rep. Robert Garcia, the most powerful Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said that “we agree with Melania Trump’s call for a public hearing.”
He urged the committee’s chairman, Republican Rep. James Comer, “to respond to the First Lady’s request and immediately schedule a public hearing.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Friday, Epstein survivor Lisa Phillips said she was surprised by the first lady’s intervention.
“I like to look at things with a little optimism and say, ‘Okay, let’s see what she can do,’ and maybe put a little pressure on her,” Phillips said.
She added that survivors have already gone to the Capitol to share their stories, and suggested that a “private testimony hearing” would be better than another public hearing because many survivors have signed nondisclosure agreements or are “afraid” to “speak about their attackers.”
She called on the president’s wife to “help” survivors – and prove her speech wasn’t just “another political charade.”
Phillips said she would “push” Melania Trump to answer the question: “What can you do to get things done?”
Sky and Amanda Roberts – the family of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre – and other survivors told BBC Newsnight they “have already shown extraordinary courage in coming forward, filing reports and giving testimony”.
“Asking them for more now is a deflection of responsibility, not justice,” they said in a statement. They accused the first lady of protecting “those in power,” including members of her husband’s administration who they say have still not made public all investigative files related to Epstein.
“The survivors did their part,” they said. “Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs.”
The relationship between the first lady and Epstein has already resulted in legal battles.
In October 2025, for example, HarperCollins UK announced that it would remove passages from a book containing “unverified” claims that Donald Trump and his wife met through Epstein. Similarly, the Daily Beast retracted and apologized for an article that the publication said “did not meet our standards.”
The first lady is also embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute with author Michael Wolff over a claim in his book Fire and Fury that she was first introduced to her husband through a modeling agent linked to Epstein.
Wolff decided to counter-sue her after she threatened him with a billion-dollar (£745 million) defamation suit.
“My lawyers and I have successfully fought these baseless and baseless lies, and we will continue to uphold my good reputation without hesitation,” she said Thursday.
Her statement at the White House is an extremely rare appearance by the first lady, one of a handful of such events for a first lady who has proven both elusive and influential since her husband’s return to the White House.
The first lady’s statement is likely to reignite an intense public debate over the handling of the Justice Department’s investigation into Epstein and the subsequent release of his files.
While Donald Trump acknowledged that he had known Epstein for some time, he later claimed to have kicked him out of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach for being a “dirty guy.”
The president has been mentioned several times in the Epstein files, but there is no indication of wrongdoing.
Follow the twists and turns of Trump’s second term with the weekly magazine of North American correspondent Anthony Zurcher US wireless policy bulletin. UK readers can register here. Those outside the UK can register here.