US President Donald Trump has revealed he was unaware that First Lady Melania Trump had planned to address the media to discuss her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
In a rare, solo public address from the White House earlier this morning, Melania denied any link to the “disgraceful” convicted sex offender and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, describing reports about the connections as “false smears”.
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” Melania, whose name appeared in the Epstein files via email exchanges with Maxwell, told reporters.
“The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect,” she added. “I do not object to their ignorance, but rather, I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”
In the wake of the address, Donald Trump told MS NOW reporter Jacqueline Alemany during a phone call that he didn’t “know anything about” his wife’s statement. Alemany said the president reiterated that Melania “didn’t know” Epstein before hanging up on the call.
Despite his comments, a source later told CNN that Donald Trump “was aware” that Melania had planned the address, particularly since her office did announce in an email that she was going to “make a statement” from the White House. The email did not mention the topic of Melania’s speech.
It’s not clear what prompted Melania’s rare address, but the first lady did claim that “fake images and statements” connecting her to Epstein and Maxwell had been circulating on social media for years.
Elsewhere in the speech, Melania denied the common claim that she was introduced to Trump through Epstein, and dismissed the importance of the email exchange with Maxwell that landed her in the files.
“My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorised as anything more than casual correspondence,” Melania said. “My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note.”
She went on to deny that she had witnessed any of Epstein and Maxwell’s crimes, and called on Congress to hold a public hearing with sworn testimony from Epstein’s victims.
It marked the first time Melania had publicly addressed the topic. Her husband’s name reportedly appears more than 38,000 times across 5,000 separate Epstein files.
Lead images: Getty Images
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