Melania Trump says she did not have relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

First lady calls on Congress to hold hearing with survivors of late financier’s abuse in statement delivered at White House Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Melania Trump, the first lady, told reporters on Thursday that she “never had a relationship” with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. It was unclear which specific accusations spurred the first lady to respond publicly. She delivered her scripted remarks at a podium in the same room Donald Trump used to address the nation on the war in Iran last week. “I [have] never been friends with Epstein,” Trump said in her statement. “I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump.” The first lady went on to say that she and the president were invited to the same parties as Epstein “from time to time” as “overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach”. But she specifically denied that her emails to Maxwell were anything more than “casual correspondence”. In her statement, Trump elaborated that she only met Epstein for the first time in 2000, at a party she attended with her husband. At the time she was k