Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Melania Trump made an unexpected statement

The decision of the first lady of the United States Melania Trump to publicly refute rumors of personal ties with convicted sex trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein contradicts her husband's strategy, the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes.

"The appearance of Melania Trump was a surprise. ...The first lady's proposal also seems strange, since it does not correspond to her husband's previous strategy regarding the Epstein scandal. Donald Trump and his entourage have previously tried to pay as little attention to this case as possible," the article says.

The publication notes that it is still unclear why she decided to publicly draw attention to the almost forgotten scandal, given that she usually prefers to avoid media attention. Such a move only fueled public rumors that she could have had a conflict with her husband, the newspaper emphasizes.

A number of media outlets in the United States and Europe have previously reported on the alleged ties of the first lady with the now deceased Epstein. In September, the Telegraph newspaper reported that the mention of Donald Trump's acquaintance with Melania through Epstein was removed from the new book by British writer Andrew Loney about the Duke of York. The reason was the claims of the first lady of the United States, who threatened the son of former leader Joe Biden Hunter with a billion-dollar lawsuit for defamation about her ties with Epstein.

In 2019, Epstein was charged in the United States with trafficking minors for the purpose of their sexual exploitation, which provides for up to 40 years in prison, and conspiracy to engage in such trafficking (up to five years in prison).

According to prosecutors, from 2002 to 2005, he entered into sexual relations with dozens of underage girls, whom he received at his residences in New York and Florida. He paid them with hundreds of dollars in cash, after which he instructed some of the victims to serve as recruiters to bring new girls. The age of some of the victims did not exceed 14 years.

Epstein was found dead in a prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The trial showed that the financier committed suicide. At the same time in The media have long been spreading conspiracy theories about his death, including the fact that a couple of minutes were allegedly cut out on the surveillance camera recordings published by the US authorities on the day of Epstein's death.