The new disclosure of documents from the Department of Justice's investigative files regarding Jeffrey Epstein includes an alleged email exchanged between his former associate and girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Melania Trump, the US First Lady.
In a message dated 2002, Melania expressed her admiration for a New York magazine article concerning Epstein and complimented the socialite who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. Melania also supposedly requested that Maxwell contact her upon her return to New York, as per the files.
“Dear G! How are you?” Melania's alleged message reads, addressing Ghislaine Ghislaine as G. “Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great in the picture.”
At that time, the First Lady was known as Melania Knauss and was in the early stages of her relationship with Trump.
The couple was photographed alongside Epstein and Maxwell during that period, but the email seems to be the initial written correspondence between Melania and Maxwell found in the records. Notably, President Trump and Melania have not faced any allegations of misconduct related to the Epstein investigation.
Melania Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell's email exchange
{{/usCountry}}Melania Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell's email exchange
{{/usCountry}}According to the Epstein files, the First Lady further wrote in the email: “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! Love, Melania.”
Maxwell allegedly replied, “Sweet pea - thanks for your message. Actually plans changed again and I am now on my way back to NY. I leave again on Fri so I still do not think I have time to see you sadly. I will try and call though.”
Epstein files release mandated by Epstein Files Transparency Act
The email correspondence was part of the over three million supplementary pages of documents made public by the Justice Department under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The release of documents on Friday occurred six weeks after the Justice Department's deadline to disclose all files related to the convicted sex offender.
The Trump administration faces allegations of breaching the law by not adhering to several deadlines for document release.
According to the Justice Department, the most recent document release comprises over 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, raising the total number of documents disclosed thus far to 3.5 million pages.