All posts tagged "jeffrey epstein"

First lady Melania Trump made a serious miscalculation when she denied a relationship with late financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, which has backfired, a columnist explained on Saturday.

The Guardian's Arwa Mahdawi described how Melania Trump's move has now led to "a nightmare of her own making," as questions swirl over what prompted the first lady to publicly comment on the matter amid the Iran war.

"Melania may not be the president, but she is in the same sycophantic bubble as her husband," Mahdawi wrote. "It’s possible she just thought she could hold a press conference and command all us plebs to stop talking about her, and we would immediately obey."

But that's not what happened.

"On the contrary, however, the first lady has now created a PR nightmare for herself," Mahdawi wrote. "In a statement released on Thursday, a group of Epstein survivors accused Trump of 'shifting the burden onto survivors under politicized conditions to protect those with power.' They added that her statement 'diverts attention from [former attorney general] Pam Bondi, who must answer for withheld files and the exposure of survivors’ identities. Those failures continue to put lives at risk while shielding enablers. Survivors have done their part. Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs.'"

And as reports surface that the first lady could have been trying to get ahead of something or try to control the narrative around Epstein, her public comments sparked more speculation.

"If a bombshell about the Trump-Epstein relationship is about to drop, it feels on-brand for the White House to drown it out with a real explosion," Mahdawi added.

First lady Melania Trump's bombshell denial of ties to Jeffrey Epstein made a major omission, political analysts reported on Friday.

The Bulwark's William Kristol, Andrew Egger, and Jim Swift identified that it was what the first lady did not say — and who she did not name — that was most revealing. The move effectively threw her husband, President Donald Trump, under the bus.

"Yesterday, Melania Trump made her move to quit the rotten carcass of her husband’s presidency," The Bulwark reported.

"Left unsaid, but not unimplied, was that none of these claims could be made about her husband," according to The Bulwark report. "He was a pal of Epstein’s. He was on Epstein’s plane. His relationship with Epstein, as exemplified for example in his contribution to Epstein’s birthday book, was more than 'casual' or 'trivial.'"

Melania also referred to the survivors and showed concern for them, something that the Trump administration has not yet done. Her husband has called the public's interest in Epstein "a hoax" and suggested the saga should go away altogether.

"The truth hasn’t yet been uncovered, and we need to uncover it," The Bulwark reported. "And if doing so leads more 'prominent male executives' to resign, so be it. One wonders: Could Melania have one prominent male chief executive in mind?"

"Melania chose not to include in her statement any assertion of her husband’s innocence of complicity in the Epstein affair," The Bulwark explained.

What she said — and what remains unknown — raises major questions.

"And now she seems to think that the man to whom she hitched herself may be going down. She’s trying to arrange not to go down with him," according to The Bulwark.

"She presumably doesn’t think her husband can be induced to become one of those 'prominent male executives' who resigns from his powerful position. But she knows that he can be removed from it. Isn’t Melania signaling others in the Trump administration and her husband’s supporters in Congress that it’s time to abandon ship, that it’s time to remove him from office?"

A recent statement given by Melania Trump on her connection with Jeffrey Epstein may have just doomed Donald Trump, a political analyst claimed.

The First Lady issued comment on her ties with child abuser Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. "To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, [Ghislaine] Maxwell,” Mrs. Trump said.

An email dated to 2002 from a sender identified as "Melania" to a "G. Max" has been shared as part of the Department of Justice's publishing of the Epstein files. Melania's statement has seemingly shocked White House insiders, who were not expecting the topic to be brought up by the First Lady.

It has led to an awkward moment that could sink Trump's presidency, according to The Bulwark's William Kristol. Left unsaid, but not unimplied, was that none of these claims could be made about her husband," he wrote. "He was a pal of Epstein’s.

"He was on Epstein’s plane. His relationship with Epstein, as exemplified for example in his contribution to Epstein’s birthday book, was more than 'casual' or 'trivial'."

"So the Epstein investigation is not, as her husband has asserted, a 'hoax.' Nor is it yet time, as her husband has said, to move on. The truth hasn’t yet been uncovered, and we need to uncover it. And if doing so leads more 'prominent male executives' to resign, so be it. One wonders: Could Melania have one prominent male chief executive in mind?"

Kristol also noted Melania had, while denying her involvement with Epstein's illegal activities, did not speak of Donald Trump's potential engagement with Epstein.

"Melania chose not to include in her statement any assertion of her husband’s innocence of complicity in the Epstein affair," he wrote. "Melania is perhaps not a deep thinker, but she’s no fool.

"Since immigrating to the United States three decades ago, Melania Knauss has done well for herself. She’s shown that she has a shrewd sense of how to operate in her adopted country. She’s risen to the top, while mostly avoiding being directly engulfed in all the scandals that have raged around her."

"And now she seems to think that the man to whom she hitched herself may be going down. She’s trying to arrange not to go down with him."

Materials from the Department of Justice have been released, including emails that feature correspondence between child abuser Epstein and Trump.

Trump is mentioned thousands of times in the files released by the Justice Department, including in emails and correspondence sent by Jeffrey Epstein himself to others.

Due to the sheer volume of Epstein-related materials released by the DOJ, many of the documents contain unverified, uncorroborated allegations that do not constitute evidence and do not establish wrongdoing.

A six-minute speech from First Lady Melania Trump on her connection to Jeffrey Epstein could not have come at a worse time for Donald Trump.

Political analyst Stephen Collinson believes Melania's speech was one of the First Lady's frustrations bubbling over. Insiders told the CNN senior reporter that Trump had been aware of a speech, but not its contents. Melania's statement appears to have made things worse inside the White House at a delicate time for the Trump administration.

Collinson wrote, "Almost every time the White House has tried to quell the drama, it has made it worse. At critical moments, victims of Epstein who have bravely gone public about their ordeals have injected their campaign with new momentum. The first lady’s remarks may have a similar impact.

"By venting frustrations so publicly, she risked undermining the White House message that there’s no reason for interest in or concern about Epstein.

"She was also speaking in the context of warnings by Epstein survivors that they have been denied justice by a hostile government. Her comment could be interpreted as an argument that they deserve a moment of vindication in front of the country."

But it is not only Donald Trump that Melania's statement will affect. Collinson argues that, for all the danger the president may now be in over the statement, damage will be done to both Melania and the Republican Party.

"The first lady has also created a political trap for herself," he wrote. "Democrats on Capitol Hill are demanding that she testify to the committee. She may therefore have planted the seeds for a first big clash between the White House and Congress if Democrats win back one or both chambers of Congress in November.

"Her speech also came as Trump’s foundation of support in his MAGA movement is being tested as never before. Previous Epstein developments alienated him from some of his most fervent supporters, since they played into a perception that a Washington deep state is covering up crimes of rich and powerful elites.

"Trump is also at odds with some high-profile former supporters who regard his Iran adventure as flouting his campaign pledge of no new foreign wars."

Materials from the Department of Justice have been released, including emails that feature correspondence between child offender Epstein and Trump.

Trump is mentioned thousands of times in the files released by the Justice Department, including in emails and correspondence sent by Jeffrey Epstein himself to others.

Due to the sheer volume of Epstein-related materials released by the DOJ, many of the documents contain unverified, uncorroborated allegations that do not constitute evidence and do not establish wrongdoing.

A New York Times reporter suggested that first lady Melania Trump's denial of her connection to Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday revealed more questions than answers.

Lulu Garcia-Navarro, an on-air CNN contributor, described how Trump's motive behind the statement could clear up some of the comments she made. And although it was unclear what drove the decision to speak out publicly for the first time, Garcia-Navarro considered several potential scenarios.

"Listen, what is everyone asking here? Why now? Why now?" Garcia-Navarro asked.

"It doesn't make sense politically for the reasons that everyone has outlined," she added. "It doesn't even make sense in her own timeline, other than you were suggesting because of her book, or someone else was suggesting because of her book, she did mention her book in that statement, which was, I have to say, a little strange. But why now? And so I don't think we know the answer to that question, but the answer to that question will tell us what, what exactly she is trying to address here, because everyone is sort of saying, what pictures is she talking about? What stories is she talking about? She doesn't actually address precisely what it is that she is trying to tamp down and reject. We don't know. And so once we understand that, I think we'll have a better sense of what exactly she was trying to get ahead of."