First lady Melania Trump denies she had an intimate relationship with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein surprising public statement","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/04/first-lady-melania-trump-statement/","_Identification": :"0000019d-7636-d64b-a5dd-7fff345c0000","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-7636-d64b-a5dd-7fff345c0001","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>surprising public statement On Thursday, suggestions to the contrary were called “lies”.
“I was never friends with Jeffrey Epstein,” he told reporters gathered at the White House. He also denied any friendly relationship with Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. She said she had “casual” email correspondence with Maxwell and suggested that any association was a result of them living in the same New York social scene.
The first lady said she “never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims.” They noted the existence of “fake” images and statements on social media regarding alleged relationships with a sex offender.
It was not immediately clear what he meant, but he said they had been “circulating on social media for years.” “Be careful what you believe. These images and stories are completely false,” he said.
The first lady did not answer reporters’ shouted questions about why she chose to discuss these matters at this time.
She also said that she and President Donald Trump met “by chance” and said that Epstein had not introduced her.
Trump has denied doing anything wrong in relation to Epstein’s allegations, and no evidence suggests that Trump participated in Epstein’s trafficking operation. The president has also said that he and Epstein had a falling out years ago.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Marcus, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Melania Trump then called on Congress to hold “public hearings focused specifically on survivors” where they would be allowed to testify.
“Give these victims the opportunity to testify before Congress with the power of perjury, each woman should get a day to tell her story publicly, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional record and only then, will you have the truth.”
The president has expressed dissatisfaction with the excessive public and political focus on Epstein for months, and in November asked Republican lawmakers to release the contents of the Epstein files held at the Justice Department and send a message on affordability.
Donald Trump said, “Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and if the Democrats had something, they would have released it before our landslide election victory.” wrote at that timeWas","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115562626931599548","_Identification": :"0000019d-7636-d64b-a5dd-7fff345c0002","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-7636-d64b-a5dd-7fff345c0003","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>wrote at that time On Truth Social.
The House Oversight Committee is conducting its own investigation into the Epstein case and has issued several subpoenas to compel testimony from witnesses. However, the statements have been held behind closed doors, and the panel has not held formal public hearings to discuss its findings.
“We agree with First Lady Melania Trump’s call for a public hearing with Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors,” Robert Garcia, California’s top Democrat on the oversight panel, said in a statement. Post On X. “We encourage Chairman Comer to respond to the First Lady’s request and immediately schedule a public hearing.”
A spokesperson for House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This wouldn’t be the first time lawmakers have spoken with people who have accused Epstein of horrific crimes. A bipartisan group — including Speaker Mike Johnson — met with some of the victims in September, before Congress passed legislation forcing the release of Epstein-related materials in the Justice Department’s possession.
During a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year, Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) asked then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has now been fired, to apologize directly to the victims behind her who went to Capitol Hill to watch Bondi testify. Bondy refused, saying that she would not “get into the gutter for (Jaipal’s) theatrics.” Those victims also indicated that they were not able to share their stories with the Justice Department.
The Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files, which total more than 3 million pages of documents, have led to no arrests in the US since their publication in January.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who led the effort to subpoena Bondi, thanked Melania Trump xpost on","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://x.com/repnancymace/status/2042324486054428746?s=46","_Identification": :"0000019d-7636-d64b-a5dd-7fff345c0006","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-7636-d64b-a5dd-7fff345c0007","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>post on x “To stand up for survivors and demand transparency.”
A spokeswoman for Mace said she supports holding a hearing but has not yet spoken to Comer about it.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee had planned to hold a so-called shadow hearing with Epstein’s victims in Palm Beach later this month. In the minority in both houses of Congress, Democrats cannot call formal hearings on their own. But that meeting in Florida has been postponed until later this spring.
