First Lady Denies Ties to Jeffrey Epstein – What You Need to Know – April 10, 2026

[0:05] This is what you need to know now. [0:07] Now I'm going to tell you it's 13 minutes of things that have to go right. [0:10] Artemis II splashdown. [0:11] The end to an historic mission. [0:13] The nail-biting return to Earth. [0:15] Ships in the Strait of Hormuz still not moving. [0:18] And Israeli strikes on Lebanon continue. [0:21] Will peace talks this weekend even happen? [0:24] Melania Trump's surprise announcement. [0:26] Denying ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. [0:29] The lies linking me to disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. [0:36] The man arrested after his wife disappeared in the Bahamas claims his innocence. [0:40] His lawyer speaks to ABC. [0:43] And it's not in the hole, it's in the bag. [0:45] A golfer at the Masters faced with a challenging shot. [0:49] We have much more What You Need to Know Now. [0:51] I'm James Longwind from ABC News. [0:53] It's Friday, April 10th and this is What You Need to Know. [0:56] We'll show you the mother and daughter chasing robbers after a smash and grab at their jewellery store. [1:01] And the emperor penguin, now an endangered species. [1:05] But first, the big story. [1:07] Hundreds of ships are still waiting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, [1:11] where there's been almost no improvement on the flow of traffic since the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran began. [1:17] The deal is still holding, but President Trump has accused Iran of being dishonorable. [1:22] The Iranians say the strait is open, but the ships must coordinate with them to pass. [1:26] President Trump writing, [1:28] There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait. [1:32] They better not be, and if they are, they better stop now. [1:36] This contradicts the president's comments to ABC's John Carl, [1:39] where Trump suggested the U.S. and Iran could charge a toll together. [1:43] There is no real certainty that negotiations will begin in Pakistan this weekend. [1:47] Vice President J.D. Vance is supposed to be leading the U.S. delegation. [1:51] You have one side, the U.S., that wants out now, and the other side, Iran, at least notionally, says we want to stick in it and we're not done yet. [2:00] The potential stumbling block for talks is Israel's ongoing war in Lebanon against Hezbollah. [2:05] Iran says the war there must stop for negotiations with the United States to take place. [2:10] Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to have relented to U.S. pressure and has agreed to open talks with Lebanon, [2:15] but has not agreed to a ceasefire. [2:17] There were more Israeli attacks in Lebanon overnight. [2:19] First Lady Melania Trump gave a surprise statement at the White House, [2:23] pushing back on what she calls baseless lies, connecting her to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. [2:28] To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell. [2:37] I have never had any knowledge of Epstein's abuse of his victims. [2:44] I was never involved in any capacity. [2:47] I was not a participant, was never on Epstein's plane, and never visited his private island. [2:58] Mary Bruce has more from the White House. [3:01] James, this came as a real surprise here at the White House. [3:04] First Lady Melania Trump, who rarely comes before cameras, walking up to the podium to forcefully deny that she ever had any kind of relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, [3:14] saying she came to defend herself against people who are smearing her, quote, good name. [3:19] Now, it's not clear which smears in particular she's referring to or why she decided to speak out now. [3:24] But here's what we do know. [3:25] The First Lady was photographed back in the early 2000s alongside Trump, Epstein, and his accomplice, Glenn Maxwell. [3:31] And the Justice Department's Epstein files indicate Melania Trump did exchange emails with Maxwell. [3:37] But the First Lady insists she was never friends with Epstein. [3:40] She was emphatic that he did not introduce her to the president and that she had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes. [3:46] But this all came really out of the blue. [3:48] The White House has tried to move past all of this. [3:50] In fact, just last week, the acting attorney general said as far as the Justice Department is concerned, this is case closed. [3:56] But the First Lady is now calling for Epstein's victims to tell their stories publicly by testifying before Congress. [4:04] The lawyer for a man arrested in connection with his wife's disappearance in the Bahamas has spoken to ABC. [4:09] Victor Akendo is there. [4:12] Hey, James. [4:12] It's been almost a week now since Lynette Hooker, an American mother from Michigan, vanished at sea in the Bahamas. [4:19] Her husband, Brian, telling police their eight-and-a-half-foot dinghy encountered poor weather on their way to their sailboat, [4:24] and Lynette fell overboard along with the boat's key, swept away by the current. [4:30] He's now in police custody here in Freeport, his attorney maintaining his innocence, saying he's devastated. [4:37] He's heartbroken. [4:39] He's very sad. [4:41] To have experienced the disappearance of his wife and to be arrested while assisting the police with their investigation, it is very traumatic. [4:52] Lynette's daughter has doubted her stepfather's story all along. [4:57] She's calling for a full investigation. [4:59] At this point, Brian has not been charged. [5:02] Bahamas police can hold him for up to 48 hours before seeking an extension. [5:06] The potential threat of a powerful new AI model has prompted an urgent meeting at the top of the U.S. government. [5:12] Anthropic did not release its Mythos AI model to the public because it says hackers could use it to detect security vulnerabilities in operating systems and web browsers and launch cyber attacks. [5:23] Treasury Secretary Scott Besson and Fed Chair Jerome Powell met with the heads of Wall Street banks this week to warn about the risks. [5:30] According to Bloomberg, the CEOs of Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs were all there. [5:36] The Treasury Department and the Fed have not yet commented. [5:39] A settlement has been reached over the backlash over expensive sports and concert tickets. [5:44] StubHub will be refunding some customers' money after agreeing to pay $10 million to settle a deceptive advertising case. [5:52] It was accused of not disclosing all fees. [5:54] The company did not admit any wrongdoing. [5:57] And take a look at this brazen smash-and-grab robbery at a New Jersey jewelry store. [6:01] The thieves managed to steal over a million dollars in jewels. [6:04] The mother and daughter who owned the store took the brave decision to chase the robbers out into the street and tried to stop them from getting away. [6:11] All this happened in broad daylight with a police substation just across the street. [6:15] And we have much more what you need to know. [6:18] Now to take three, the stories that you'll be talking about today. [6:31] Number three. [6:32] From near-threatened to endangered, the emperor penguin has joined the growing list of wildlife at risk from global warming. [6:40] The International Union for Conservation of Nature Projects says the emperor penguin population could be cut in half by the 2080s. [6:47] The main threat changes in sea ice. [6:49] Emperor penguins rely on it to shelter their chicks. [6:52] When that ice breaks up too early, they have nowhere to go. [6:55] Number two. [6:56] Baron Trump is hopping onto the growing yerba mate trend. [7:00] The bitter herbal tea, long popular in South American communities, has become a staple on NYU's campus. [7:06] The president's youngest son, a rising junior there, is teaming up with four partners to create Solos Yerba Mate Inc., according to a company filing. [7:15] And number one. [7:16] A woman at the Masters got a fun surprise in her merch bag on Thursday. [7:20] Xander Schorfle's tee shot landed just left of the fairway, straight into her bag. [7:25] The top-ranked golfer marked the spot, removed the ball, and returned the bag to its owner. [7:30] Schorfle then went on to save par. [7:33] Afterwards, he said thanks to the lady on eight, noting that without her bag, the ball would have rolled down a hill. [7:40] And now, one more thing before you go. [7:42] The crew of Artemis II is coming home today. [7:45] Set to splash down off the coast of California around 8 p.m. after 10 days slingshotting around the moon. [7:51] The spacecraft will be traveling at 24,000 miles per hour for re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. [7:57] This is one of the most dangerous phases of the entire mission. [8:00] And during a 13-minute period, the crew will lose all contact with mission control. [8:05] Helicopters will hoist the astronauts up, and they'll be brought to a Navy ship where, according to NASA, something special will be waiting for them. [8:13] The biggest request they had was uncrusted sandwiches. [8:19] Splashdown is expected around 8 p.m. Eastern. [8:21] ABC Live coverage begins at 7.30 p.m. [8:25] And that's what you need to know for breaking news and live updates throughout the day. [8:28] Check out ABC News streaming on Disney+. [8:30] Streaming every day on Disney+.