CNN reporters were shocked on Thursday after first lady Melania Trump gave her first-ever statement on Jeffrey Epstein and called for Congress to give survivors of the late financier and convicted child sex offender a chance to testify.
Melania Trump's connection to Epstein has long been under speculation, and in her speech from the White House, she broke her silence for the first time. CNN anchor Briana Keilar and CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes were both stunned by the "extraordinary" move.
Holmes described why the moment was so striking.
"I would use the word stunning here, particularly as it pertains to this first lady," Holmes said. "She is often not in the limelight. She doesn't take to center stage. She doesn't react to things like this, standing there at the podium. And these remarks kind of came out of the blue. It's a time when we're actually not focusing on Epstein. The country seemingly had moved on to the latest issue that is coming out of this administration, which, of course, is the war in Iran. Yet we have Melania Trump coming up here and essentially defending her name."
Melania Trump referred to multiple accusations against her and President Donald Trump, claiming that people had spread lies about her ties to Epstein, whom she said she had interacted with socially at parties.
"And we should note, there were a lot of smears across social media linking her to Epstein. None of it seemed verified," Holmes said. "We don't need to repeat any of those claims, although she does list them out somewhat during that speech regarding meeting Donald Trump, her relationship with Epstein. But even further, the fact that she is calling on Congress for an open hearing for them, for these victims and survivors to provide their testimony, we have to compare that to what we have been hearing from President Trump, from the White House, from the [former] attorney general, Pam Bondi, before she left, talking about how America wants to move on from this, how they don't want to have these hearings. They don't want to draw this out, how people in the country are tired of talking about Epstein."
But Melania's comments differed from those within the White House and the DOJ.
"You have a direct contradiction to that with the first lady here," Holmes added. "So yes, you have her defending herself, but she is also calling for what so many people across America have been calling for, which is a chance for these victims, for these survivors to come forward and speak on the record, speak to Congress. And she is actually calling on Congress to let them have this day in court. Obviously, court is metaphorical here, talking about Congress, but saying that everyone should have to testify under oath. Talking about how people, men, have lost their jobs because of their relationships to Epstein saying that of course it doesn't make you guilty of anything, but it should be an opportunity to have the survivors talk, the victims talk to get their side of the story out there. This, again, is completely the opposite of what we have been hearing in terms of the narrative and trying to get away from the narrative around Jeffrey Epstein and coming from the first lady in this kind of impassioned speech where she is directly addressing these claims, again, mostly claims that have been seen on social media."
Melania Trump said that several people and companies have had to issue public apologies and retractions, naming Daily Beast, James Carville and Harper Collins UK.
"She names a few news outlets that had carried some of this, and then going into a call to action to even take this further," Holmes explained. "Re-injecting the Jeffrey Epstein saga back into the media narrative and essentially saying Congress didn't do enough. That is such a stunning and stark departure from what we have been hearing, and to be given again by the first lady standing there at the White House."