First Lady Melania Trump, 55, delivered one of the most stunning and unexpected public addresses of her time in the White House on Thursday, April 9, 2026 ET, flatly denying any meaningful ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Melania Trump Epstein statement — delivered from the White House Cross Hall — set off a media firestorm, prompted Jimmy Kimmel to fire back the same night, and reignited calls for Congressional hearings that the Trump administration had been trying to bury.

Melania Trump's Surprise Statement at the White House

Speaking from the White House, Melania Trump said the lies linking her to Jeffrey Epstein must end. She stated she has never been friends with Epstein, that she and Donald Trump were occasionally at the same parties as Epstein due to overlapping social circles in New York City and Palm Beach, and that she never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Melania Trump declared she is not Epstein's victim and that Epstein did not introduce her to Donald Trump. She said she met her husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998, and that the first time she crossed paths with Epstein was at an event she and Donald Trump attended together in the year 2000.

The press was not given advance notice on the topic of Melania Trump's remarks. Sources told ABC News that White House officials were caught off guard by the subject of her address, with some questioning why she was commenting on it. President Donald Trump told a reporter he did not know the first lady was going to make a statement about Epstein.

The Daily Beast, Michael Wolff, and the Epstein Files Background

Melania Trump's legal team had spent months going after outlets that asserted a link between her and Epstein. After threats from the first lady's lawyers, the Daily Beast retracted a story highlighting claims by author Michael Wolff that Epstein had introduced Melania Trump to Donald Trump, and issued an apology.

The Daily Beast released a report the same Thursday claiming it had obtained voice recordings of Epstein boasting about his relationship with the Trumps, in which Epstein described himself to journalist Michael Wolff as Trump's "closest friend for 10 years." The outlet also highlighted Melania's 2002 email exchange with Maxwell, in which she signed off with "Love, Melania," and Maxwell responded calling her "sweet pea."

During her White House remarks, Melania Trump said her email reply to Maxwell could not be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence and described her polite reply as nothing more than a trivial note. She cited successful retractions from the Daily Beast, HarperCollins, and political consultant James Carville as examples of her legal team's work.

Jimmy Kimmel Rebukes Melania Trump Statement Live on Air

Jimmy Kimmel reacted to the Melania Trump Epstein statement by saying she "brushed the drywall off her business suit and delivered a doozy of a prepared statement demanding that we stop talking about something no one was talking about."

Kimmel shared a widely circulated photograph of Melania Trump, Donald Trump, and Epstein together — a photo that appeared in a framed image inside Epstein's Manhattan mansion — and said: "By the way, while you're explaining how much you didn't know Epstein, any particular reason you can think of that he had a picture of you guys on display at his house?"

Jimmy Kimmel quipped that Melania Trump "must really hate" Donald Trump for reviving the Epstein scandal just as the topic had died down, framing the timing of the surprise statement as a "plot twist" that worked against the administration's interests.

Melania Trump Calls on Congress — and Epstein Survivors Respond

Melania Trump called on Congress to act, urging lawmakers to provide Epstein's victims with a public hearing specifically centered around survivors, where each woman could testify under oath and have her testimony permanently entered into the Congressional Record.

The House Oversight Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia, responded by saying the committee agrees with Melania Trump's call for a public hearing with Epstein survivors and urged Chairman Comer to schedule one immediately. GOP Rep. Tim Burchett also said he looked forward to working with the first lady on the issue.

A group of Epstein survivors and family members of the late Virginia Giuffre said in a statement that the Melania Trump Epstein address simply shifts the burden onto survivors under politicized conditions that protect those with power, adding that the Trump administration still has not fully complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.