Trump tells reporter he had no prior knowledge of topic Melania would discuss ahead of her Epstein remarks: Live updatesnewsline24

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, reacted to First Lady Melania Trump’s remarks by calling on the Department of Justice to act.

“First Lady asks Congress to bring Epstein survivors in for testimony,” Massie wrote on X.

“With all due respect,” he wrote, that is the job of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

MS NOW reporter Jacqueline Alemany said on Thursday evening that she had spoken to President Donald Trump following the first lady’s address.

She said Trump claimed he did not know she was going to speak about Epstein, and said his wife did not know Epstein.

“Just got off a quick call w President Trump who said he didnt ‘know anything about’ FLOTUS’ statement prior to her on camera appearance, but that he was in a meeting about the war & couldn’t speak further. ‘She didn’t know him,’ he added before hanging up, referring to Epstein,” Alemany said.

While a number of the first lady’s aides were gathered to watch her White House address, several were not aware of what she was going to say, according to NBC News.

A number of social media users expressed bewilderment at the first lady’s out-of-the-blue remarks about Jeffrey Epstein, with many noting that the Epstein controversy had largely been overshadowed by the war in Iran.

“I’m so confused by this,” one X user wrote. “Who at the White House thought it was a good idea to resurrect the Epstein story right now?”

“This was so random,” wrote another. “To my knowledge, there was no notable discourse recently about Melania’s ties to Epstein. All eyes have been on the Iran War. What prompted this?”

Republican members of Congress had so far avoided hearing testimony from survivors of Epstein’s abuse. Now-former Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to even look them in the face when she testified to the House Judiciary Committee in February.

Now the First Lady is publicly calling on lawmakers to hear from them. But she didn’t call on now-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to act, after Bondi came under fire for refusing to prosecute Epstein’s co-conspirators. She didn’t tell DOJ to complete the release of the Epstein files after Blanche said they were done with them. And she didn’t tell prosecutors to meet with survivors despite their pleas.

With no explanatory preamble, Melania Trump spoke from the White House podium about how she is “not Epstein’s victim,” was not introduced to her husband by Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, and about how she “never visited his private island.”

“I was never involved in any capacity,” she added. “I was not a participant.”

Following the first lady’s remarks, a Republican lawmaker has said that several of Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators will be brought before the House Oversight Committee to testify.

“Chairman Comer has agreed to call these 4 named co-conspirators in to testify, and they won’t be the only ones,” Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wrote on X. “There are a number of doctors we also have questions for, and the list continues to grow.”

She reposted footage of the first lady’s press conference, during which she said: “Several prominent male executives resigned from their powerful positions after this matter became widely politicized. Of course, this doesn’t amount to guilt, but we still must work openly and transparently to uncover the truth.”

Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, thanked the first lady for her remarks.

“I am moved by the words of @FLOTUS today regarding Epstein,” Mace, one of just four Republicans who signed a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files, wrote on X.

“First Lady, you have my word I’ll continue to fight for the women who have been victimized by this monster,” she added.

A senior adviser to the first lady said that she “spoke out now because enough is enough.”

“The lies must stop,” Marc Beckman told The New York Post. “It is time for the public and media to focus on her incredible achievements as First Lady.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, was one of several lawmakers to echo the first lady’s calls for a public hearing featuring the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein.

He wrote on X that he, Rep. Thomas Massie and Rep. Nancy Mace “have been calling for this for months.”