First Lady Melania Trump delivered a rare, unscheduled press briefing from the Grand Foyer of the White House on April 9, almost forcefully denying any personal connection to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In her 10-minute address that was broadcast live, she declared that “the lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today” and rejected what she called “mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation”. Yet, while she protected herself at length, she offered no defence of her husband — mentioning US President Donald Trump only briefly, to clarify their meeting and shared social circles.
Melania was clear and emphatic about herself. She stated she had never been friends with Epstein or his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell; had never flown on his plane, dubbed the Lolita Express, or visited his private island, and had no knowledge of his crimes.
She insisted her name had never appeared in court documents, depositions, victim statements or FBI interviews related to the case. She described a single polite e-mail reply to Maxwell as nothing more than “casual correspondence” and “a trivial note”. She also noted that she met her husband, Donald Trump, by chance at a New York party in 1998 — two years before she first crossed paths with Epstein at a social event the couple attended together.
HOW MELANIA SURPRISED WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS, DIDN’T DEFEND TRUMP
The remarks stunned White House officials. Several told reporters they were surprised by the timing, given that public focus on the story had quieted. One official described internal disagreement over whether the First Lady should address the issue at all. President Trump himself said he knew nothing about his wife’s plans to speak.
The most striking part of Melania’s statement, however, was what she left unsaid.
She offered absolutely no defence of her husband. She mentioned “Donald” only in passing — to clarify that Epstein did not introduce them and that the couple occasionally overlapped with Epstein in the same New York and Palm Beach social circles. She made no reference to the fact that President Trump’s name has appeared thousands of times across the Epstein files, including in flight logs, address books, witness statements and other records released over the years.
Those documents have fuelled persistent online speculation and political attacks against the president.
The abrupt presser immediately sparked fresh online buzz, much of it centring on an X account allegedly belonging to Amanda Ungaro. The Brazilian model and former partner of Paolo Zampolli — the modelling agent who first brought Melania to the United States and introduced her to Donald Trump — posted a viral warning shortly after the remarks.
WHO IS AMANDA UNGARO AND HOW IS SHE LINKED TO EPSTEIN?
“Hello Melania, I was around you for 20 years,” Amanda Ungaro wrote. “You knew I was inside ICE, and you know what hurts after all this time? I stayed close to your family — your mother and your father — not because of you, but because of them, at events and everything else. So shut your mouth when speaking about me. Because I will expose everything I know,” the post read on the account that reportedly belongs to Amanda Ungaro.
Ungaro has publicly described flying on Epstein’s jet at age 17 with modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel and attending New Year’s parties at Mar-a-Lago seated with the Trumps and Zampolli.
She has positioned herself as a survivor of Epstein’s modelling-world network, though she has not accused Epstein of assaulting her personally. The account’s claims could not be independently verified, but the post has gained widespread attention.
Melania’s statement ended with a call for Congress to hold public hearings, so Epstein victims can testify under oath. While her defence of her own reputation was unambiguous. The silence on her husband’s far more extensive documented mentions in the Epstein files was, for many observers, impossible to miss.
