First lady Melania Trump twice insisted on Thursday that her “Love, Melania” email to Ghislaine Maxwell was a “reply,” but her own words suggest otherwise.
“To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell,” Melania said in a rare statement from the White House. “My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence.”
She added, “My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note.”
The email in question was written by Melania in 2002. At the time, she was known as Melania Knauss, a 32-year-old model who had been dating Donald Trump for about four years. The message does not read as a “reply,” and there is no evidence of an initial message from Maxwell.
Melania wrote, “Dear G! How are you? Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great in the picture. I know you are very busy flying all over the world. How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY. Have a great time!”
The future first lady signed the email, “Love, Melania.”
The “NY Mag” piece in question was likely a 2002 profile that quoted Trump raving about Jeffrey Epstein, whom he called a “terrific guy.”
“He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump is quoted as saying. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it—Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Melania, now 55, spoke for just over five minutes on Thursday, reading a statement that sounded like it was written by a legal team. She took no questions, mispronounced words like “trivial” and “convicted,” and insisted she was no friend of Epstein or Maxwell.
Much attention has been paid to the email—released in late January as part of an Epstein files dump—and Maxwell’s reply, in which the jailed sex trafficker referred to Melania as “sweet pea.”
“Actually plans changed again and I am now on my way back to NY,” Maxwell, 64, wrote back to Melania. “I leave again on Fri so I still do not think I have time to see you sadly. I will try and call though. Keep well.”
Melania also sought to quash rumors that she was introduced to her future husband by Epstein.
“I met my husband, by chance, at a New York Party in 1998,” she said. “This initial encounter with my husband is documented in detail in my book, MELANIA."
The first lady also implored Congress to hear the testimony of victims—a break from Trump, who has urged the public to move on from the story since Epstein is long dead.
“Now is the time for Congress to act,” she said. “Epstein was not alone. Several prominent male executives resigned from their powerful positions after this matter became widely politicized. Of course, this doesn’t amount to guilt, but we still must work openly and transparently to uncover the truth.”
