While it remains unclear whyMelania Trumpchose to read a brief statement on Thursday distancing herself fromJeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender her husband socialized with for nearly two decades, reporters have sent much of the day trying to find out if the president knew that his wife was planning to draw attention back to a subject he has called for the public to move on from.
Shortly after the first lady delivered her statement, an MSNOW hostreportedthat she had spoken by phone toDonald Trump, who said he did not “know anything about” the first lady’s statement before she appeared on camera. “She didn’t know him,” the president added before hanging up, apparently referring to Epstein.
The first lady wasphotographed with Epsteinmultiple times at a party at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago beach club in 2000. She acknowledged on Thursday that she had also written a friendly email to Epstein’s accompliceGhislaine Maxwellin October 2002, signed “Love, Melania”. The first lady did not mention that her email included praise fora flattering profile of Epsteinin New York magazine that came out that week, which she called a “Nice story”. That 2002 profile featured the following glowing quote from Donald Trump praising his friend and making reference to his attraction to young women:
double quotation mark“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump booms from a speakerphone. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. 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.”
A spokesperson for the first lady initiallytold the New York Timesthe president knew that his wife planned to make a statement. That report was later updated to note that the spokesperson “later said it was not clear if Mr. Trump was aware of the topic of her remarks.”
This concludes our coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Here are the latest developments:
The first lady,Melania Trump, read reportersan extraordinary statementdenying that she ever had “a relationship” withJeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender, or his accompliceGhislaine Maxwell.
“Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach,” the first lady said on Thursday. However, that contention is undermined by the fact that the most well-known images of the two couples together were taken at Trump’s own club, Mar-a-Lago, on 12 February 2000.
While the first lady did mention in the statement she read aloud an email she sent to Maxwell, apparently in reference toa 2002 note signed, “Love, Melania”, that friendly correspondence was released by the justice department in January, offering no hint as to why she chose to address it now.
Even normally well-sourced correspondents for rightwing outlets were at a loss to explain why the first lady felt the need to issue a statement denying that she had any relationship with Epstein, the late sex offender who socialized with her husband for nearly two decades, or his accomplice Maxwell.
The normally ever-presentDonald Trumpwas out of sight all day, but the president spent hours on a social-media posting spree, complaining about perceived slights from Iran, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, and four former supporters in the rightwing media who have criticized his war on Iran.
Besieged by questions about the deadly chaos he unleashed by attacking Iran and his wife’s statement on Epstein, Trump tried to shift the national conversation back to his immigration crackdown by posting graphic video of a woman in Florida being murdered last week by a man he called an illegal immigrant from Haiti.
The far-right conspiracy theoristAlex Jonesfired back atDonald Trumpfor disowning him,writing on social media: “I have made it very clear that I no longer support Trump and I’m very thankful to him for making it clear that I have nothing to do with him. The new Trump is a rotting husk of the old Trump.”
The Texas radio host added a suggestion that Trump had fallen under the sway of another far-right host:Mark Levinof Fox News. Levin, who is an ardent supporter of Israel, has been engaged in a nasty feud with the former Fox hostMegyn Kelly, accusing her Trump over the US-Israeli attack on Iran of being motivated by anti-semitism.
Ina video responseto Trump’s earlier post attacking Jones, Kelly,Tucker CarlsonandCandace Owens, Jones began by playing a clip of Trump saying to Jones in 2015: “I just want to finish by saying your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down. You will be very, very impressed I hope”.
