Melania Trump: 'Never been friends with Epstein, lies about me'. Congress to give voice to victims
The First Lady surprisingly comes out: 'Never had an affair with Epstein or his accomplice' Ghislaine Maxwell. I was not his victim, she says, nor did I know of his crimes.
Melania Trump's rare public outing was a real 'bombshell' in Washington. It caught even the White House staff unprepared and President Donald Trump himself, who later said he was unaware of his wife's intentions. The shock, however, does not stem from the fact that the First Lady is not used to speaking in public. But from the chosen topic, burning and at the same time seemingly overlooked today, in a climate dominated by real bombs, war, truces and controversies with Iran. The First Lady suddenly summoned the journalists present to the White House to address another controversy that has long plagued the White House and her personally: the case of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. And she did so to refute, she said, the "lies linking me to the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein".
Lies she denounced, which have been echoed online and on social media for years and which 'must end today'. She cited "numerous false images and statements about Epstein and me", denied ever having been "a victim" of the financier and claimed to have never known anything about his crimes. She also denied rumours that it was Epstein who introduced her to Trump and described any meetings with him and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell as entirely casual.
She did not stop there, however, proposing an action that could actually create new problems for the president and his circle in neutralising the affair. She called on Congress to convene public hearings allowing Epstein's own victims to testify on Capitol Hill, which have so far been avoided by the Republican majority that fears the scandal will overshadow President Trump and his administration, shaken by a chaotic handling of the release of the investigation dossier and resistance to transparency on the powerful friendships of the financier who died by suicide in prison awaiting trial in 2019. The crisis was also among the main reasons for the ouster of Justice Secretary Pam Bondi.
"I call on Congress to hold a public hearing for women who were victims of Epstein, focusing specifically on survivors, and to give these victims the opportunity to testify before Congress with the force of sworn testimony," she said. "All women should have the opportunity to tell their story in public if they wish," she added,
It was not at all clear why the First Lady decided to intervene at this time for her j'accuse and defence of her name. Indeed, the mystery deepened when she refused to answer journalists' questions in unison - why now? She walked away without clarifying.
