Melania Trump challenged a reporter who tried to ask her about Ghislaine Maxwell while meeting with a hostage freed by Hamas.
The First Lady hosted American-Israeli Keith Siegel and his wife Aviva at the White House a year after she helped advocate for his freedom.
Before reporters were ushered out of the room, one asked Melania about calls for convicted sex trafficker Maxwell to be moved to a high security prison amid the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Melania didn’t fall for the bait.
‘We are here celebrating the release and the life of these two incredible people,’ she countered. ‘So let’s honor that, thank you.’
Epstein is at top of mind after the Justice Department last week unleashed a trove of 3.5 million documents, images and files related to the late child sex offender.
Buried in the tranche is an email that appears to be addressed to Maxwell that’s signed ‘Love Melania.’
It’s no secret that the first lady and President Donald Trump associated with Epstein and Maxwell in the 1990s and early 2000s. They are pictured separately and together with the crime duo before Epstein’s 2008 prison sentence.
Melania wasn’t letting her meeting with Keith and Aviva be derailed by irrelevant questions – including one by a reporter asking if she held the meeting to promote her new film Melania: Twenty Days to History.
First Lady Melania Trump dismisses question about Ghislaine Maxwell at White House event on Wednesday, February 4, 2026
The new Epstein files drops show an email signed ‘Love Melania’ and appearing to be addressed to Ghislaine Maxwell (right). Pictured: Donald Trump, then-girlfriend Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago on February 12, 2000
‘It is nothing to do with promotion,’ the First Lady insisted.
Aviva was featured in the movie as she met with Melania to push for her husband and other Israeli hostages’ freedom.
Keith thanked Melania for including their story in her film, which was just released in theaters across the country on Friday.
The email in the Epstein files signed by ‘Melania’ in 2002 begins: ‘Dear G! How are you? Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great on the picture.’
New York Magazine that same week ran a now-infamous story headlined: ‘Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery.’ It featured a full-page illustration of Epstein grinning alongside former President Bill Clinton in front of his private jet, as actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker were seen boarding the aircraft.
The email signed ‘Melania’ continues: ‘I know you are very busy flying all over the world. How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY. Have a great time!’
Trump maintains that he broke off ties with Epstein in 2007 when he kicked him out of his Mar-a-Lago club for being ‘a creep.’
