In an unusually pointed and defiant public address from the White House Thursday afternoon, First Lady Melania Trump forcefully rejected circulating online claims linking her to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker, and urged Congress to hold public hearings to elevate the voices of his victims.Standing in the Grand Foyer, Mrs. Trump took the rare step of addressing reporters directly, describing the accusations as “baseless smears” and defamatory attempts to damage her reputation. She emphatically denied ever having known Epstein in any meaningful way, ever being introduced to him, or having any knowledge of his criminal activities.“I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump, and I have never had any knowledge of his abuse of victims,” Mrs. Trump said. She also stressed that she had never flown on Epstein’s private jet nor visited his private island — details that have become focal points of online commentary and conspiracy theories.In a striking departure from what has typically been a low‑profile public role, the First Lady called on Congress to conduct public and transparent hearings where survivors of Epstein’s sex trafficking network can share their experiences on the record:“It is time to allow those brave women harmed by Epstein’s atrocities to have their stories entered into the congressional record,” she said, framing the request as a matter of justice and truth.According to reporting from The Associated Press, Mrs. Trump described the rumours about her as lacking ethical grounding and connected their proliferation to broader misinformation campaigns on social media.Thursday’s statement comes amid months of heated online debate and sporadic claims — including unfounded suggestions that Epstein played a role in introducing Melania Trump to her husband, President Donald Trump, during their early years together. .These theories have been publicly disputed and legally challenged by the First Lady’s team.Earlier reporting has also shown that Melania’s attorneys have pursued demands and threatened legal action against individuals and outlets spreading what her representatives have labelled defamatory assertions.Political observers describe the speech as uncharacteristically direct for Mrs. Trump, whose public communications have often focused on policy or ceremonial issues.By confronting the Epstein narrative head‑on — and coupling her denial with a call to centre victims’ voices — the First Lady appears to be attempting to both quell unfounded rumours and pivot the national discussion toward accountability for actual victims of Epstein’s crimes.
