How Melania Trump’s unexpected speech brought the Epstein case back into the spotlight in the US

Melania denies ties to Epstein and says she was not a victim of the sexual predator When Melania Trump walked to the White House lectern on Thursday, in the same place where United States President Donald Trump had made, just over a week earlier, his address to the nation on Iran, there was absolutely no indication that this would be a jaw-dropping appearance. There was curiosity, yes, but no one imagined it would be something unmissable. Not even those most connected to the administration had any prior warning about the issue, according to authorities. Flanked by American flags, her first sentence left listeners stunned. “The lies linking me to the shameful Jeffrey Epstein must end today.” With these words, the crisis involving Epstein that had been haunting the president once again came into the spotlight, this time because of his wife. Donald and Melania Trump Getty Images Immediately, US cable TV channels halted their coverage of Iran, given the gravity of what was unfolding. The first lady has always maintained a relatively low profile, strategically choosing her few public appearances. She hardly shares the same taste for the dramatic — or the desire to shock and impress the press — as her husband. Reading from a prepared statement, she stated that she never had a relationship with Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, that she was not introduced to her husband by Epstein and that she had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. She concluded by calling for public hearings in Congress so that Epstein survivors can testify and help reveal the truth. If she had stayed to answer questions, the first would certainly be: Why did she feel the need now, seemingly out of nowhere, to distance herself from the convicted sex offender and publicly record her position for the first time? Rumors circulated that perhaps she was trying to get ahead of something new, as the general allegations she referred to have been circulating for years and she typically turns to her lawyers to respond. Investigative journalist Vicky Ward, who has covered Epstein for decades, says the timing of the news conference is confusing. “I think if Melania Trump had done this at the beginning of the Epstein crisis, a year ago, and called on Congress to record the victims’ statements and hear their stories, we would feel very differently,” he says. The context of her statements also doesn’t make sense, he adds. “There’s actually not much about Melania Trump in Epstein’s files other than that one email, a friendly email to Ghislaine Maxwell. I’m perplexed by that. I don’t think anyone ever believed she was a victim.” Further adding to the intrigue, President Trump said he did not know she would make that statement, although a spokesperson for the first lady initially said he knew.
[bbc] Melania Trump Reuters The reaction to Melania Trump’s announcement was swift. Several survivors contacted each other, sharing their disbelief at what had just happened, and began coordinating how they would respond. Thirteen of them, along with the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, released a statement saying that demanding more from survivors is a transfer of responsibility, not justice. “First Lady Melania Trump is now shifting the burden to survivors in politicized conditions that protect those in power: the Justice Department, law enforcement, prosecutors and the Trump administration, which has not yet fully complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.” Democrats continue to argue that the Justice Department withheld too many documents without adequate justification. Of a total of six million documents, the Justice Department released 3.5 million and stated that there are legal limits on releasing the rest. Marina Lacerda, who was just 14 when she was abused by Epstein as detailed in the 2019 federal indictment against the disgraced financier, was one of the survivors who signed the statement. But she went further in a separate video shared on social media, sharply criticizing the first lady’s suggestion. “It seems like you’re just trying to divert attention from one thing to another. So how does this benefit the Trump family is my question,” Lacerda said. Survivor Lisa Phillips praised Melania Trump for confronting the Justice Department’s narrative that they were closing the chapter on the Epstein files. An image of an email sent by Melania Trump to Ghislaine Maxwell US Department of Justice Phillips told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that the call for survivors to tell their stories was a “bold move”. But she also challenged the first lady to turn words into actions. “What I would do is confront her and push her a little bit, saying, ‘OK, now that you’ve said that, what can you do? What can you do to help us? And what can you do to move us forward?” The chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, which is investigating the Epstein files, told Fox News on Friday that he always planned to hold hearings with survivors of Epstein’s crimes once the committee completes its investigation. “I agree with the first lady and appreciate what she said,” said Republican James Comer. “We will have hearings.” Barry Levine, author of The Spider: Inside the Tangled Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, says that the fact that Melania Trump included and recognized the victims is very significant, because she chose to go against her husband’s position. According to him, President Trump has always turned his back on the victims. “He has had many opportunities to say something in support of the survivors, to seek accountability, and he has continually said that the files are nothing more than a sham.” The wife, says Levine, is very much her own person and speaks her mind. “Even the president himself has acknowledged this previously.” Tammy Vigil, author of Melania and Michelle: First Ladies in a New Era, told the BBC that the fact that the statement did not mention her husband shows a fissure in the White House between the president and first lady and the agendas they promote. “She’s promoting an agenda that, by all outward appearances, he doesn’t want to promote. So she’s helping her own agenda. It’s a very independent statement, and we’ve seen her do it a few times before.” Democrats, for their part, see this as a political gift. Melania Trump has now placed herself directly at the center of the Epstein story and has placed herself in opposition to the government, which wants to shut down the investigation. The highest-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, said he was surprised by the speech and that the Trump administration now needs to follow the first lady’s example. “If Melania Trump wants real justice, she should ask her husband to release the rest of the Epstein files and make sure Pam Bondi testifies,” he said. President Trump, who socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and appears often in the files but denies any knowledge of his crimes, has called the uproar surrounding the Epstein files a politically motivated hoax. But this time, he can’t accuse the person who put the story back in the headlines of having malicious intent. This is a lasting crisis that the government cannot overcome, and Melania Trump’s announcement has just breathed new life into it.

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