Melania Trump delivers statement at the White House denying knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump is denying ties to Jeffrey Epstein and knowledge of his sex crimes, saying Thursday that the “stories are completely false” and calling accusations that she was somehow involved “smears about me.”

Reading an extraordinary statement at the White House, Melania Trump said she and her attorneys were fighting back against “unfound and baseless lies” in regards to her connections to the late financier, a convicted sex offender who leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his crimes.

“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” she said. “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”

The seemingly out-of-the-blue message came as her husband, President Donald Trump, and his administration had finally seemed to move past more than a year of controversy surrounding Epstein, especially as the Iran war had become all-consuming in Washington. The first lady’s comments almost assuredly served to push the story back into the political spotlight even as the president urged the public and media to move on from the case.

The White House account on X reshared a video posted by the first lady's account of Melania Trump reading her statement. White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the president had prior knowledge of the first lady's comments.

The first lady spoke for about five minutes, reading her statement in the Grand Foyer, then walked away without taking questions. She did not go into detail on the accusations against her but said they came from “individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name.” She added that they were financially and politically motivated.

Melania Trump also called on Congress to hold a public hearing centered on survivors of Epstein’s crimes, with a chance to testify before lawmakers and have their stories entered into the congressional record.

“Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public if she wishes,” she said. “Then, and only then, we will have the truth.”

Democrats jumped on Melania Trump's comments, saying they agreed with her call for a congressional hearing. In a social media post, Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee that is investigating Epstein, called on the Republican chair of the committee, Rep. James Comer, to schedule a public hearing “immediately.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who sponsored a bill prompting the release of millions of Epstein documents, turned attention back to the Justice Department, saying it's the attorney general's job to bring in survivors for testimony. In a social media post, Massie, who has pressed for more arrests in the Epstein case, ended a social media post with a call to “PROSECUTE!”

Questions about Epstein's reach have loomed over the administration and divided Republicans, driving a wedge into Trump's MAGA base as some pressed for the government to release more files and prosecute figures linked to the financier.

The issue has dogged Trump and fractured some of his alliances, including one with former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once one of his most reliable supporters in Congress. Trump dismissed the issue as a “Democrat hoax” but later signed a bill to release files from Epstein's case.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the first lady to revive the issue now. She noted that several individuals and organizations have had to apologize for their “lies about me.” Of the examples she cited, the most recent was in October.

In that case, book publisher HarperCollins UK apologized to the first lady and retracted passages from a book suggesting Epstein played a role in introducing her and Donald Trump.

Melania Trump mentioned her husband several times in her comments. She said Epstein did not introduce her to Trump and that she met her future husband at a New York City party in 1998.

The first lady brought Epstein back to the forefront months after federal authorities released millions of pages of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Maxwell.

Lawmakers complained when the Justice Department made only a limited release last month, but officials said more time was needed to review additional documents that were discovered and to ensure no sensitive information about victims was released.

Melania Trump said in her statement that she was not friends with Epstein or his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, but was in overlapping social circles in New York and Florida. She described an email reply she sent to Maxwell as “casual correspondence” without elaborating.

“My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note,” she said.

Among the documents released by the Justice Department was a brief email from 2002 with the sender and recipient blacked out. It begins, “Dear G!” and ends “Love, Melania,” and compliments the recipient on a magazine article about “JE.”

“I know you are very busy flying all over the world,” it says. “How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY.”

That email was sent the same month that a New York Magazine article was published about Epstein in which Trump called the financier a “terrific guy.”

Among other documents released was an image from Epstein’s home showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Maxwell.

Epstein killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

This story has been corrected to show Melania Trump called her correspondence with Maxwell “trivial,” not a “trifle.”

Associated Press writers Stephen Groves in Washington and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

First lady Melania Trump arrives to speak with reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

First lady Melania Trump arrives to speak with reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

First lady Melania Trump speaks to reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

First lady Melania Trump departs after speaking with reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

First lady Melania Trump speaks to reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

BEIRUT (AP) — In the hours after the U.S. and Iran announced a tentative ceasefire, Israel dramatically escalated its attacks in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The burst of strikes in central Beirut and other parts of the country killed more than 300 people and wounded 1,150 others, according to health officials.

The Israeli military said that it had targeted sites affiliated with the Hezbollah militant group and announced that it had killed an aide to the group's leader, Naim Kassem. But the strikes, which hit densely packed residential and commercial districts at rush hour, also killed more than 100 women, children and older people, according to health officials.

Hezbollah retaliated to the heavy strikes — which prompted an international outcry — by launching missiles into Israel, though no serious casualties have been reported.

The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah erupted after the U.S. and Israeli launched airstrikes against Iran on Feb. 28. Since the ceasefire announced by the U.S. and Iran earlier this week, a heated debate has ensued over whether it applies to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Iran says it does, while the U.S. and Israel say it doesn't.

Israel and Hezbollah have fought multiple wars since the militant group was formed in the 1980s as a guerrilla force resisting Israel’s then occupation of southern Lebanon.

On March 2, two days after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran, Hezbollah launched missiles toward Israel. It said that the salvo was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and for “repeated Israeli aggressions” in Lebanon.

The resumption of fighting came 15 months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted their previous war. That conflict started a day after the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, began firing on Israel after it launched its blistering counteroffensive against Hamas in Gaza. What began as a low-level conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border region erupted into a full-scale war in September 2024.

After a ceasefire was reached in November 2024, Israel kept up near-daily airstrikes in Lebanon, saying that it aimed to stop Hezbollah from regrouping. Israeli troops also continued to occupy five hilltops on the Lebanese side of the border.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, was under domestic and international pressure to surrender its remaining arsenal. The group stayed largely quiet and didn’t enter the fray during last summer's 12-day war between Israel and Iran. Many believed that the group was too weakened to fight after suffering heavy losses in the 2024 conflict, and so were surprised when it entered the war following U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.

As of Thursday, 1,888 people had been killed and more than 6,092 had been wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since March 2, according to the country’s health ministry. It's not clear how many of those were civilians, but they include hundreds of women, children and health workers. Wednesday's strikes killed 30 children, 71 women and nine people over the age of 65, the health ministry said.

More than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon. Israel has issued a series of blanket warnings for residents to leave wide swaths of the country, often followed by bombardment of those areas. Many are sleeping in cars, on the streets or in overcrowded schools turned into shelters.

The Israeli military says Hezbollah has launched more than 2,000 missiles and drones across the border, but that most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. The Israeli army says 12 soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon and more than 400 others have been wounded.

There have also been a small number of civilian fatalities in northern Israel, including one man killed by a rocket strike and another who was accidentally killed by Israeli army artillery fire during fighting along the border. The steady stream of missiles and drones has residents on edge in northern Israel. Many are angry that the government hasn’t offered to pay to evacuate them as it did during the last war.

The Israeli army has also launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Fierce battles have erupted with Hezbollah militants in the border area and U.N. peacekeeping forces have at times been caught in the middle. Three members of the U.N. force have been killed.

Some Israeli officials have called for their military to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border. Israeli forces have demolished homes in villages along the border line. Many displaced Lebanese fear that Israel plans to create a depopulated buffer zone and they will never be able to return to their homes.

Lebanese officials have sought to directly negotiate with Israel to halt the fighting. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had agreed to enter into talks that would focus on disarming Hezbollah and a possible peace deal.

When the U.S. and Iran announced a tentative ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, Pakistan’s prime minister, whose country served as a mediator, said in a social media post that it applied to “everywhere including Lebanon."

Hezbollah has said that it won't abide by the ceasefire unless Israel does.

Joe Macaron, a Middle East analyst, said that the ensuing negotiations will be “a test of how much the Iranian regime is committed to help Hezbollah." It's unlikely Israel will agree to — or be forced by the U.S. to accept — a full ceasefire and withdrawal from Lebanon, he said.

While the U.S. might pressure Israel to halt strikes in central Beirut, a “long war of attrition” is likely to unfold between Israel and Hezbollah in the south, he said. The Israeli military isn't capable of controlling the entire area south of the Litani River, Hezbollah isn't capable of forcing Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon, and neither Israel nor the Lebanese state can forcibly disarm the group, he said.

The only resolution will have to be a negotiated settlement, Macaron said.

Koral Saeed contributed to this report from Abu Snan, Israel.

A woman carries a flag of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group during a ceremony marking the 40th day since the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A first responder emerges through the smoke at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment building in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Israeli military mobile artillery unit fires towards southern Lebanon from northern Israel, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Smoke rises following several Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)