--- title: Melania Trump Says Lies Linking Her to Jeffrey Epstein ‘Need to End’ description: The first lady denied ties to Jeffrey Epstein and said she had no knowledge of abuse, in a surprise statement at the White House. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/melania-trump-says-lies-linking-her-to-jeffrey-epstein-need-to-end-/ author: Philip Wang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-04-09T19:03:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-09T21:16:01.821Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump Says Lies Linking Her to Jeffrey Epstein ‘Need to End’ og:description: In a surprise statement at the White House, the first lady denied ties to Jeffrey Epstein and said she had no knowledge of his abuse. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/melania-trump-says-lies-linking-her-to-jeffrey-epstein-need-to-end-/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f37b978b31f182/69d7f80b47096d7c84acaf5d/GettyImages-2270609405.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2270609405.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump Says Lies Linking Her to Jeffrey Epstein ‘Need to End’ twitter:description: In a surprise statement at the White House, the first lady denied ties to Jeffrey Epstein and said she had no knowledge of his abuse. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f37b978b31f182/69d7f80b47096d7c84acaf5d/GettyImages-2270609405.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump Says Lies Linking Her to Jeffrey Epstein ‘Need to End’ ## Video: Melania Trump Says Lies Linking Her to Jeffrey Epstein "Need to End" [Watch (HLS stream): Melania Trump Says Lies Linking Her to Jeffrey Epstein "Need to End"](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZZC1Zm4P.m3u8) (5:49)  _Published 2026-04-09. First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday denied ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his business associate Ghislaine Maxwell, saying the “lies” that link her to the two convicted sex offenders “must end.” “I've never been friends with Epstein,” Melania Trump said in a speech on Thursday, while acknowledging that she and Donald Trump were invited to the same parties as Epstein “from time to time.”_  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Apr 9, 2026 7:03 PM UTC  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Apr 9, 2026 7:03 PM UTC [First Lady Melania Trump](https://time.com/7366462/melania-documentary-movie-trump-review/) on Thursday denied ties to disgraced financier [Jeffrey Epstein](https://time.com/article/2026/03/16/what-america-gets-wrong-about-jeffrey-epstein/) and his business associate [Ghislaine Maxwell](https://time.com/7375277/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-trump-clinton-innocent-congress-testimony-clemency-pardon/), saying the “lies” that link her to the two convicted sex offenders “must end.” “I've never been friends with Epstein,” [Melania Trump](https://time.com/tag/melania-trump/) said in a speech on Thursday, while acknowledging that she and Donald Trump were invited to the same parties as Epstein “from time to time.” “Overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach,” she insisted. During her surprise address, [the first lady](https://time.com/melania-trump-inauguration-model-first-lady/) denied that Epstein introduced her to President Donald Trump or that she herself was a victim of Epstein’s crimes. She also said she had no knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims. ## Melania addresses email exchange with Ghislaine Maxwell Melania also commented on emails between her and Ghislaine Maxwell, saying the exchange “cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence.” “To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell,” Melania said. “My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note.” According to the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice, an [email](https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02332411.pdf) was sent in October 2002 from “Melania” to “G” regarding a New York Magazine [profile](https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/n%5F7912/) of Epstein. “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,” the email reads. The first lady also denied that she was ever on Epstein’s plane. Files released by the Department of Justice show her husband's name appeared on Epstein’s [flight logs](https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1391276/dl?inline) eight times between 1993 and 1996\. A person’s inclusion in the Epstein files does not, by itself, constitute evidence of wrongdoing. Melania called on Congress to hold a public hearing for victims of Epstein to share their experiences. She said “we still must work openly and transparently to uncover the truth” while stopping short of calling for a full release of, or unredacting, the Epstein files. “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 congressional record. Then, and only then, we will have the truth,” she said. ## Trump’s past association with Epstein Trump and Epstein’s [friendship](https://time.com/7333365/trump-epstein-relationship-timeline/) spanned more than a decade, starting in the late 1980s and ending around 2004\. **Read more:** [_Inside Trump and Epstein’s Long, Complicated Relationship_](https://time.com/7333365/trump-epstein-relationship-timeline/) In 2003, a lewd birthday [note](https://time.com/7315609/epsteins-birthday-book-trump-clinton/) depicting the outline of a naked woman with Trump’s name and signature was sent to Epstein for his 50th birthday. The note reads, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The White House has denied that Trump signed this note. Epstein’s business associate Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking, was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas in August 2025, shortly after meeting with then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Maxwell is still [seeking](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-case-00829078) a presidential pardon, a request that Trump [said](https://time.com/7305903/donald-trump-ghislane-maxwell-pardon/) he “has not thought about.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/melania-trump-says-lies-linking-her-to-jeffrey-epstein-need-to-end-/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/melania-trump-says-lies-linking-her-to-jeffrey-epstein-need-to-end-/"},"headline":"Melania Trump Says Lies Linking Her to Jeffrey Epstein ‘Need to End’","datePublished":"2026-04-09T19:03:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-09T21:16:01.821Z","description":"In a surprise statement at the White House, the first lady denied ties to the convicted sex offender.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/melania-trump-says-lies-linking-her-to-jeffrey-epstein-need-to-end-/","keywords":["Jeffrey Epstein","Melania Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f37b978b31f182/69d7f80b47096d7c84acaf5d/GettyImages-2270609405.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip Wang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/philip-wang/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f37b978b31f182/69d7f80b47096d7c84acaf5d/GettyImages-2270609405.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-2270609405.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/jeffrey-epstein/","name":"Jeffrey Epstein"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/melania-trump-says-lies-linking-her-to-jeffrey-epstein-need-to-end-/","name":"Melania Trump Says Lies Linking Her to Jeffrey Epstein ‘Need to End’"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Melania Trump Says Lies Linking Her to Jeffrey Epstein \"Need to End\"","description":"First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday denied ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his business associate Ghislaine Maxwell, saying the “lies” that link her to the two convicted sex offenders “must end.” “I've never been friends with Epstein,” Melania Trump said in a speech on Thursday, while acknowledging that she and Donald Trump were invited to the same parties as Epstein “from time to time.”","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZZC1Zm4P/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-04-09T21:13:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZZC1Zm4P.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/melania-trump-says-lies-linking-her-to-jeffrey-epstein-need-to-end-/","duration":"PT5M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/article/2026/04/09/melania-trump-says-lies-linking-her-to-jeffrey-epstein-need-to-end-/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```