A group of well-known progressive commentators has a theory on why first lady Melania Trump, 55, called her dramatic April 9 press conference to talk about Jeffrey Epstein.
“Something’s bugging her. She knows that something’s coming. Obviously, something must be coming, or she wouldn’t have done this,” Sean Wilentz said on The Court of History podcast alongside Sidney Blumenthal and Nina Burleigh.
“It’s possible that she was, in fact, more vulnerable than her husband in these revelations,” Burleigh said. “She’s the weak link in the cover-up.”
Much of the speculation centered on Burleigh’s insights on the ties between Epstein and Trump.
After the Department of Justice released millions of pages of files related to Epstein, a New York Times investigation found 38,000 references related to the Trumps.
The president has long denied any wrongdoing involving Epstein. But Burleigh is focused on a more unusual occasion: the first lady delivering a surprise statement to the press this month, denying having any real ties with Epstein.
“I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity—I was not a participant, was never on Epstein’s plane, and never visited his private island," Trump told reporters.
The Daily Beast reached out to the White House and first lady for comment.
Burleigh believes the spontaneous presser from Melania came as a result of new reporting related to her ties with modeling agent Paolo Zampolli, 56, and his ex-partner with whom he shares a child, Amanda Ungaro. Zampolli is now a presidential envoy in the Trump administration.
Ungaro, a model who was flown on Epstein’s jet as a 17-year-old, was deported to her native Brazil after Zampolli allegedly made a request to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take her into custody, according to The New York Times. Zampolli has denied wrongdoing.
Zampolli did business with Epstein, according to the Times, and was named on several occasions in the files released by the Justice Department. He is also credited with introducing Melania to Donald.
Burleigh speculates that he and Ungaro know information related to the deceased predator and the Trumps.
Furthermore, Burleigh believes the first lady’s statement was in response to Ungaro speaking to the press after her deportation, granting an interview to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.
“[Melania is] stumbling over the words. And if you read them closely, it is 100% a legal threat to whoever is going to speak out,” Burleigh said. “And that person is Amanda.”
Ungaro has continued to stay in the public eye, turning her gaze more pointedly towards the White House. In an interview with The Courier after the first lady’s speech, the Brazilian model said of Melania Trump, “She knows that I witnessed highly compromising interactions over the course of 20 years.”
Ungaro added that Melania “does not know the full extent of what I know,” before saying she would “absolutely” agree to testify before the House Oversight Committee on her knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
