US3 min(s) read
Published 14:44 10 Apr 2026 GMT
Former White House press secretary and Melania’s former chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, has swiped at the president’s latest claim about his wife’s statement on her relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Melania made waves yesterday when she made a hasty statement about her relationship with the late criminal and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In the shocking statement, she claimed she was never friends with Epstein, despite the numerous encounters she had to endure as they were in the same social circles.
The first lady began her surprise speech with: “The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today.
“I have never been friends with Epstein,” she added.
Shortly after the White House address, Trump told MS NOW that he did not know about his wife’s bombshell statement ahead of time.
The president declared “she didn’t know [Epstein]” before hanging up, while a White House official said staffers were also shocked by the statement.
However, Grisham, who began working for Melania after stepping down as press secretary, called out Trump for lying about not knowing what his wife was going to do.
During an interview with CNN, in reference to the tip off Melania gave the press the day before the statement, the former White House employee said: “I’m going to say, I call BS on our president saying he knew nothing about it, because at the very least, I imagine she would have given him a heads up if she had sent an advisory out yesterday.”
When asked if she was surprised by the timing of the first lady’s statement, Stephanie said: “No. Melania Trump thinks about everything she does, and she thinks about it for a very long time.
“And she does things very strategically.
“And she knew full well that walking out there into the White House residence, behind that podium like that, would make absolute waves.”
Melania was also quizzed about a 2002 email between her and Ghislaine Maxwell, but snubbed it as simply a “casual correspondence”.
However, in the email, which she dubbed “trivial,” she was complimentary about a picture of Epstein that appeared in a New York Magazine feature, which also included her husband’s praise of the disgraced financier.
“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,” Trump said in the article.
In her speech on Thursday, April 9, Melania also denied rumors that she was a victim of Epstein and called on Congress to facilitate a public hearing for survivors of the perpetrator.
