Melania’s Epstein Remark Sparks Questions, Survivors Speak Out

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CBS News reports First Lady’s call for congressional hearings met with resistance from victims who say the burden should fall on the DOJ, not them

By TRH World Desk

New Delhi, April 11, 2026 — Melania Trump’s surprise White House statement on Jeffrey Epstein may have been intended to close a chapter — but according to CBS News political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns, it has opened several new ones, including pushback from the very survivors the US First Lady invoked.

The statement, which caught reporters and White House staff off guard, saw Melania acknowledge that she had moved in the same social circles as Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell — while firmly insisting she had no knowledge of his crimes. Her senior adviser offered a straightforward explanation for the timing: “All day long, lies and innuendos are coming through the media about the First Lady and she just wanted to set the record straight.”

The most consequential moment came when Melania directly addressed Congress. “I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimised by Epstein with the public hearing,” she said — framing a congressional platform as an act of justice for survivors.

But survivors themselves are not convinced. One, speaking to CBS News, said she had told her story many times and was willing to do so again — but not in a public arena. “I don’t feel like I need to sit in a public arena and do that. It just makes a spectacle,” she said, adding that she would be happy to share her account with the Department of Justice instead.

Survivor Danny Bensky was more direct: “We have the DOJ. We have the FBI for a reason. We just really want them to do their jobs.”

The distinction matters. Survivors are not refusing accountability — they are redirecting it away from congressional theatre and toward the investigative institutions already mandated to pursue it.

Despite that, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee announced Friday evening that he agrees with Melania Trump and that his panel is moving ahead with plans to hold congressional hearings with survivors.

Whether those hearings serve justice — or politics — remains the question no one in Washington has yet answered.