WASHINGTON 鈥� President Donald Trump said Friday that he had known his wife wanted to speak about Jeffrey Epstein at some point, and that he 鈥渢hought she had a right to talk about it,鈥� even if he had not known what exactly she planned to say.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 bother me,鈥� Trump said in a brief telephone interview, referring to the remarks Melania Trump made from the entrance hall of the White House a day earlier.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what the statement was,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut I knew she was going to make a statement.鈥�
The first lady鈥檚 comments certainly came as a surprise to many other people who work in the White House, according to two officials familiar with the situation who asked for anonymity to discuss the matter. It was not clear why she had chosen that moment to talk about Epstein. Absent any explanation, questions and feverish conspiracy theories swirled.
The president said his wife had been agonizing for a long time over her press coverage and rumors connecting her to Epstein. What was particularly upsetting to her, Trump explained, was one theory positing that it was Epstein who introduced her to her future husband. In her remarks Thursday, Melania Trump recounted the story of meeting Trump 鈥渂y chance at a New York City party in 1998.鈥� She said she did not encounter Epstein for the first time until two years after that.
鈥淪he finds it very insulting,鈥� Trump said of the rumors. 鈥淎nd I said, 鈥業f you want to do that, you can do that.鈥� I said if she wants to do it 鈥� I didn鈥檛 recommend it, but I said, I let it be her, I said, if you want to do it. 鈥︹��
He added, 鈥淪he didn鈥檛 meet me through Jeffrey Epstein. And I could understand her feelings. But I said, 鈥業f you want to do it, do it.鈥欌��
He would not say when exactly he had this discussion with the first lady, but said that 鈥渋t wasn鈥檛 a big discussion. I鈥檇 say it lasted for about two minutes. I had no problem. I thought she actually did a good job.鈥�
And yet, the first lady鈥檚 remarks redirected focus onto a storyline that her husband and his administration have been thrashing against for a year. Just last week, the attorney general lost her job in part over her inability to contain the furor, which has now been reignited.
After Melania Trump spoke, the internet lit up with speculation about what could have prompted her to come forward. Donald Trump insisted she was simply fed up with her press coverage.
But once she did, old photographs of her and Trump palling around with Epstein and his companion Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of facilitating years of sexual abuse, went viral again. The spectacle braided two narratives that officials in this White House always approach with utmost caution: the deeply private first lady and the deeply poisonous Epstein saga.
Trump projected sangfroid about it all Friday. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 mind anything having to do with Epstein,鈥� he said, insisting he had been exonerated from all things Epstein related. 鈥淭he only thing I don鈥檛 like is I waste a lot of time鈥� having to talk about it.
But he was talking about it again because of something his wife chose to do. Was he upset that she had single-handedly thrust this story that had so bedeviled him back onto front pages around the globe?
鈥淣o,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 never get upset.鈥�
He said that after he watched his wife鈥檚 statement, he thought to himself: 鈥淪he had a right to talk about it, because the fake news covers her so inaccurately.鈥�
鈥淲ould I have done it that way?鈥� the president mused. 鈥淧erhaps not, perhaps, I don鈥檛 know.鈥�
This article originally appeared in .
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