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- Surprise solo press conference; Melania Trump strode in, spoke briefly, then left without taking questions.
- Forceful denial: "The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today," she said.
- Acknowledged "casual correspondence" and social overlap with Ghislaine Maxwell, denied any involvement in crimes.
- Urged Congress to hold public hearings so survivors can testify under oath and have testimony entered into the Congressional Record.
Melania Trump has nothing to do with the Epstein files, she wants us to know. Wait, what?
On Thursday the first lady called a surprise press conference with no context as to what she wanted to speak about. Striding up to the podium solo in a pantsuit and heels, Trump immediately launched into it.
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” she said.
No, Trump said, she wasn’t friends with Epstein or his co-conspirator Ghislane Maxwell. It wasn’t true that Epstein, as some had claimed, introduced her to her husband. Sure, she ran in the same circles as Maxwell and Epstein and had engaged in some “casual correspondence” with the former, but that’s it. She certainly, she said, had nothing to do with the duo’s crimes of sexual assault and trafficking, and no connection to his victims.
And anyone who suggested she is, she said, is not being truthful.
“The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather, I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation,” she said.
After a few minutes of categorically denying any connection to Epstein, Trump closed by saying she encouraged more investigation by Congress into the people who were co-conspirators of the billionaire, asking them to have a “public hearing specifically centered around the survivors.”
“Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony,” she said. “Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional Record.”
Then, without taking questions, she turned around and strode away, stiletto heels clicking on the floor.
Bloomberg/Getty Images
Trump’s entire press conference was only about six minutes, but it left the reporters in the room, and everyone else at home, too stunned to speak. Because, what? Why?
While the Trumps’ connection with Epstein and Maxwell has been well documented, many White House correspondents noted there has been no news as of the past few weeks that explicitly tied the first lady to Epstein in a new or different way. As Shawn McCreesh, the White House correspondent for the New York Times, wrote in his coverage of the presser: “It was not clear why [Trump] chose to speak out now, or to what reports she was referring.”
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