'I never get upset': Trump says didn't know what Melania would say, insists he isn't bothered by the renewed scrutiny over Epstein files
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'I never get upset': Trump says didn't know what Melania would say, insists he isn't bothered by the renewed scrutiny over Epstein files")
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump Photograph: (AFP)
Is Donald Trump distancing himself from Melania Trump’s Epstein statement? He says he didn’t recommend it and isn’t upset—calling it her decision entirely. All you need to know.
Melania Trump's decision to go public with a statement denying ties to Jeffrey Epstein appears to have caught her own husband off guard, or at least that's how US President Donald Trump is telling it. In an interview with the New York Times on Friday (Apr 10), Trump said he knew Melania was planning to make a statement but had no idea what it would contain. When asked if it bothered him, he said it didn't, because "she had a right to talk about it." He also made clear, more than once, that the statement wasn't his suggestion.
Trying to get ahead of a bigger scandal?
Soon after, Melania, in a statement, denied any link with sex offender, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The internet had exploded with conspiracy theories, with many suggesting that the Trumps and the White House might be trying to get ahead of a bigger scandal.
Political analyst Ahmed Baba speculated that something big may be "about to drop". On X, he wrote, "This was so random. To my knowledge, there was no notable discourse recently about Melania’s ties to Epstein. All eyes have been on the Iran war. What prompted this? Is something about to drop? Seems to me the First Lady just injected Epstein back into the news cycle unprompted."
However, talking to the New York Times, Donald Trump kept insisting that he did not recommend that Melania address the Epstein Files. "I didn't recommend it," he told the Times. "But I said: If you want to do it, do it." He added that the two discussed it for roughly "two minutes", but didn't say when that conversation happened. He also acknowledged he wasn't sure he would have handled it the same way himself.
Trending Stories
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
She finds it very insulting
In her statement, Melania denied ever having a relationship with Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, disputed reports that Epstein had introduced her to Trump, called out what she described as fabricated images circulating on social media, and urged Congress to hold public hearings where Epstein's victims could testify under oath. She took no questions afterwards.
Also read | FACT CHECK: Did Macron post a video of Jeffrey Epstein kissing Melania Trump? Truth behind the viral clip
Trump said that the statement, which came as a shock to the world, centres on her feelings about the long-circulating claim that Epstein played matchmaker between them. "She finds it very insulting," he said. Melania has maintained she first met Trump at a New York City party in 1998, two years before she says she ever encountered Epstein. Paolo Zampolli, Trump's special envoy and a former modelling agent who had business dealings with Epstein, has said he was the one who made the introduction, describing it in characteristically brief terms to the Daily Beast: "I said: 'Melania meet Donald, Donald meet Melania,' and then I left the table because I had 300 guests." The first Mar-a-Lago photograph of Trump, Melania, Epstein and Maxwell together dates to February 2000.
Trump told the Times that Melania "did a good job" with her statement. He also insisted the renewed avalanche of Epstein coverage doesn't upset him. "I never get upset," he said, before adding: "I don't mind anything having to do with Epstein. The only thing I don't like is I waste a lot of time" on the subject.
