Melania Trump says rumours linking her to Epstein 'need to stop' — BBC News

[0:00] But first of all, we just want to start with that breaking news [0:02] that just came out of the White House in the last half an hour or so, [0:06] this time from the First Lady, Melania Trump. [0:09] She made a surprise on-camera statement to deny unspecified allegations [0:13] involving her and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. [0:18] Yes, Mrs Trump has denied ever having a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein [0:22] or his accomplice, also convicted, Ghislaine Maxwell. [0:26] And she described the rumours surrounding her relationship with Epstein as defamatory. [0:33] Now, in a moment, we'll be speaking to our White House reporter, Bernd Boosman, [0:36] who was in the room to hear that statement from the First Lady. [0:40] But first of all, let's listen back to it in full now. [0:51] Good afternoon. [0:53] The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. [1:00] The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards. [1:08] humility and respect. [1:12] I do not object to their ignorance, but rather, I reject their mean-spirited attempts [1:19] to defame my reputation. [1:24] I've never been friends with Epstein. [1:28] Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, [1:34] since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach. [1:43] To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell. [1:53] My email reply to Maxwell cannot be catered as anything more than casual correspondence. [2:06] My polite reply to her email doesn't amount to anything more than a tribal note. [2:13] I am not Epstein's victim. [2:18] Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. [2:23] I met my husband by chance at the New York City party in 1998. [2:31] This initial encounter with my husband is documented in a detail in my book, Melania. [2:37] The first time I crossed paths with Epstein was in the year 2000 at an event Donald and I attended together. [2:48] At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings. [2:58] Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been calculating on social media for years now. [3:15] Be cautious about what you believe. [3:19] These images and stories are completely false. [3:25] I'm not a witness or a name witness in connection with any of Epstein's crimes. [3:31] My name has never appeared in court documents, depositions, victim statements, or FBI interviews surrounding the Epstein matter. [3:44] I have never had any knowledge of Epstein's abuse of his victims. [3:54] I was never involved in any capacity. [3:57] I was not a participant, was never on Epstein's plane, and never visited his private island. [4:09] I have never been legally accused or convinced of a crime in connection with Epstein's sex trafficking, abuse of minors, and other repulsive behavior. [4:22] The false smears about me from mean-spirited and politically motivated individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name to gain financially and climb politically must stop. [4:40] My attorneys and I have fought these unfound and baseless lies with success and will continue to maintain my sound reputation without hesitation. [4:54] To date, several individuals and companies have been legally obligated to publicly apologize and retract their lies about me, [5:05] such as Daily Beast, James Carville, and HarperCollins, UK. [5:11] Now is the time for Congress to act. [5:17] Epstein was not alone. [5:20] Several prominent male executives resigned from their powerful positions after this matter became widely politicized. [5:31] Of course, this doesn't amount to guilt, but we still must work openly and transparently to uncover the truth. [5:41] I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors. [5:53] Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony. [6:04] 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. [6:20] So that is the first lady Melania Trump making that statement from the White House just in the last 45 minutes or so. [6:38] Now you'll have heard her reference an email that she sent to Ghislaine Maxwell, [6:43] and we can show you an email that is contained in the so-called Epstein files released by the Department of Justice, [6:49] which we believe to be the email that Melania Trump is referencing there. [6:53] You can see that it was sent in October 2002, subject line of hi, and she says, [6:59] Dear G, we believe that to reference Ghislaine Maxwell, how are you? [7:03] Nice story about J.E., which again we are interpreting as Jeffrey Epstein in the New York magazine. [7:10] You look great on the picture. I know you are very busy flying all over the world. [7:14] How is Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in N.Y. [7:19] Have a great time. Love, Melania. [7:22] So we believe that that's the email the first lady is referencing to when she says that it was just a trivial email, [7:29] a polite reply to an email she had received from Ms. Maxwell. [7:34] Now we don't have that email that she has said she's received from Ms. Maxwell, [7:39] because obviously that's her own private correspondence at this point in time. [7:43] But let's go live to the White House now, where we're joined by our White House reporter, [7:48] Bernd de Boosman, who was there in the room when Melania Trump was making that statement. [7:55] Bernd, tell us a little bit about what that was like. [7:57] We had no indication that this is what the first lady was going to address. [8:01] We had no indication whatsoever that this is what the first lady was going to address. [8:08] Before the reporters went in the room, there was a lot of speculation about what it might be. [8:12] People thought, for example, it might be something related to children, which has become a bit of a passion project for her. [8:18] But this really did come as quite a surprise. [8:21] And I think the main question that the media will be asking going forward is what prompted this announcement now? [8:27] That email that you just referenced is very old, more than two decades old. [8:32] And it's not exactly clear what exactly prompted this today. [8:36] These online rumours that she was referencing and images that often AI-generated images, [8:43] they've been swirling around for quite some time. [8:45] I think the reporters here at the White House are just a bit flabbergasted that this announcement seems to have come out of nowhere [8:52] over something that's been happening for quite some time. [8:55] And indeed, Burns, this is already creating a few shockwaves here in D.C., [9:01] because this is a story that President Trump usually does his best to get away from. [9:06] It's not something that he's comfortable talking about. [9:09] He has said many times that he didn't have any awareness of what Jeffrey Epstein was up to. [9:14] And when he did, he dismissed him. [9:16] He refers to him as a creep repeatedly. [9:18] He threw him out of his Mar-a-Lago club. [9:21] So, for Melania Trump to bring Jeffrey Epstein and the so-called Epstein files back into the public domain like this, [9:29] it's quite remarkable. [9:33] It is quite remarkable. [9:34] And I think it represents something of a political problem for the president. [9:37] As you mentioned, he's kind of been very dismissive of any questions about Epstein, [9:43] certainly in the last year. [9:44] There's been no indication of any wrongdoing in any of the files that has been released. [9:48] And he's actually snapped quite angrily at reporters who have asked him about Epstein. [9:52] He said, from his perspective, he really had nothing more to say. [9:56] So, for the First Lady of the United States to kind of bring this back into the public consciousness, [10:01] I imagine will represent something of a challenge for the White House and for the president, [10:06] who have kind of done their best to get away from the issue and, to a certain respect, really had. [10:12] The issue had kind of died down in recent months, [10:14] even while there were still bipartisan calls for more to be done to release the information. [10:21] When Attorney General Pam Bondi lost her job last week, people were also discussing Epstein. [10:27] But it really was at a much lower level than it had been in the past. [10:30] And I think this kind of brings it back into the mainstream discussion of the United States. [10:36] And I think this is the first time that we're going to be able to do this.