A former aide to Donald Trump says Melania Trump’s April press conference on Jeffrey Epstein may have raised further questions rather than put the controversy to rest. Sarah Matthews, who served as deputy White House press secretary during Trump’s first term, suggested the first lady may have spoken out because she anticipated further disclosures.
Sarah Matthews questions whether the first lady anticipated disclosures
Matthews called the event a “weird random press conference” and described it as the “most convincing piece of evidence” that a report from House Judiciary Committee Democrats was “probably accurate,” speaking on The Bulwark podcast. She pointed to the timing. By April, she said, the public wasn’t “really even talking about the Epstein files as much anymore.”
In her view, Melania may have stepped forward because she suspected the files would mention her. “She probably caught wind of what was in these Epstein files and her mentions in there,” Matthews asserted. “And so she wanted to get out ahead and didn’t really think through the fact that it actually makes it look more guilty and that it does make it look, in fact, true.”
The report from House Judiciary Committee Democrats alleges that Donald Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s circle during the 1990s. It also includes an allegation that Trump raped a 24-year-old woman and later offered to help her obtain a visa and admission to New York University in exchange for her silence. These claims have not been established in court.
On Melania, the report cites an FBI interview in which a witness said Epstein introduced her to Trump. Matthews called the account significant, saying it appeared to confirm that Epstein introduced the couple. Melania has denied that claim, stating that she met Trump by chance at a New York party in 1998. During her April press conference, she also denied being Epstein’s victim or having knowledge of his crimes.
Host Tim Miller, a former GOP strategist who now identifies as a never-Trump Republican, backed her reading. He called the press conference “an unbelievably defensive press conference and weird at the time.” He added, “There was certainly a ‘the lady doth protest too much’ to the whole deal.”
