Melania Trump is speaking out about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
During a rare White House appearance on Thursday, April 9, the first lady denied any personal connection to either figure amid renewed scrutiny of newly released Justice Department documents.
“I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell,” Melania, 55, said in the statement. “I never been friends with Epstein.” She also said, “I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump.”
Melania said she met Donald Trump at a New York City party in 1998 and first encountered Epstein in 2000 at an event she attended with her future husband. According to the first lady, she had “no knowledge” of Epstein’s crimes at the time.
Her comments came after a 2002 email exchange included in the latest Epstein files appeared to show correspondence between Melania and Maxwell. One message, signed “Love, Melania,” referenced “a nice story about JE in NY mag.”
Addressing that exchange directly, Melania said, “My email reply to Maxwell cannot be characterized as anything more than casual correspondence. My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note.”
In 2021, Ghislaine was convicted on five federal charges, including sex trafficking and conspiracy, for helping Epstein recruit and groom underage girls between 1994 and 2004 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 and is currently serving that sentence in federal custody.
Maxwell has continued to fight the conviction, arguing that a 2007 plea deal reached by Epstein should also have protected her from prosecution. Her appeals have so far been unsuccessful but recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.