First lady Melania Trump makes an announcement that she has been in talks with President Vladimir Putin about returning kids who have been taken during the war. (Photo credit: 1 Andrew Thomas 1 / Shutterstock)
Lawyer and journalist Katie Phang warned that Melania Trump tops the subpoena list for lawmakers planning an Epstein probe.
Phang is leading a lawsuit against Attorney General Todd Blanche to hold the Trump administration accountable for its obligation to release certain Epstein records by law. On a Friday podcast episode she described in the title as a "bombshell," Phang spoke with Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) about his pledge to carry out an investigation of Epstein and uncover more about the deceased sex criminal after the midterms.
Garcia and Phang predicted that Democrats would retake the House after the midterms, along with the House Oversight Committee. As the ranking Democrat on the committee, Garcia expects to find himself in a position to start dishing out subpoenas, and Phang noted, "At the top of that list is a woman by the name of Melania Trump."
Garcia explained, "Republicans have set a precedent that we can subpoena and talk to first ladies and former first ladies and family members of presidents" by going after Hunter Biden and the Clintons. He plans to leverage that precedent and go after Melania to discover what she knows about Epstein.
"I mean, does anyone here across the country think that the first lady doesn't have additional information?" Garcia said. Melania Trump and Epstein were photographed together with Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in February 2000.
Phang noted Melania's "bizarre press conference" in April 2026, where she denied ever being his friend or victim while calling on Congress to let survivors testify at public hearings. Garcia said that the speech made it clear she wants the investigation to move forward.
"She made that clear, and so we're very interested," Garcia said. "There's no question that we want to talk to the first lady. Melania clearly has information."
Garcia added, "There's a lot of speculation about who knew who when, who was introduced to who, when and how, and so I think those are valid questions," and evoked Melania's own words to call on her to tell the truth.
"If Melania Trump wants real justice for the survivors, then she would work with us to try to get the truth," Garcia said.