All posts tagged: Jeffrey Epstein

Confusion over Melania Trump’s bizarrely-timed Jeffrey Epstein disavowal – Press Review

Confusion over Melania Trump’s bizarrely-timed Jeffrey Epstein disavowal – Press Review

Published by Sam Flores

PRESS REVIEW – Friday, April 10: Papers focus on Hungary’s opposition leader, Peter Magyar, as he confronts Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Sunday’s crucial election. Magyar is hoping to capitalise on a wave of discontent over Orban’s rule. In the US, First Lady Melania Trump has convened the press at the White House to deny any ties to Jeffrey Epstein – but was it a ruse to divert attention from Donald Trump’s chaotic war in Iran? And finally, a new study sheds light on a community of chimpanzees that waged a bloody civil war among themselves. Hungarians head to the polls this Sunday in legislative elections shaping up to be a tightly contested race. The battle for the premiership pits incumbent strongman Viktor Orban against his younger ally-turned-rival, Peter Magyar. Polls this week suggest Magyar and his party have taken a narrow lead over Orban. Pro-government newspaper Magyar Nemzet has launched a vitriolic attack on the challenger, accusing him of crushing his party’s narrative and predicting heavy losses on Sunday. The paper has endorsed the prime minister, …

CNN Reporter Analyses Timing Of Melania Trump’s Epstein Remarks

CNN Reporter Analyses Timing Of Melania Trump’s Epstein Remarks

Published by Sam Flores

CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes offered some insight as to why first lady Melania Trump, seemingly out of the blue, attempted to distance herself from the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday. “I’m told by a number of White House officials that they were just absolutely stunned, particularly by the timing of these remarks,” Holmes told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday night. “It sparked rumors all across the White House campus that she was trying to get ahead of something that most people must not know about.” Holmes added that some sources close to Trump told her they were less surprised by the first lady’s remarks because she had reportedly been growing frustrated with the online discourse about her alleged relationship with Epstein. “She’s never actually come out and flat out denied it, and she wanted an on-the-record denial,” Holmes said. Holmes: I am told by people who are close to her that they were a little bit less surprised because in private, Melania Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated with the …

Melania Trump Calls For Epstein Survivors Congressional Hearing

Melania Trump Calls For Epstein Survivors Congressional Hearing

Published by Sam Flores

First lady Melania Trump called for Congress to hold a public hearing centred on survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, in a press appearance where she also attempted to distance herself from the late sex abuser. “Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony,” she told reporters. “Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the congressional record.” The demand is a major step for the first lady, given the friendship her husband, President Donald Trump, had with the disgraced financier. The White House has not immediately responded to HuffPost’s request for comment, though CNN reports that the president was not previously aware his wife would mention Epstein in her speech. The Trump administration has faced a major backlash for its efforts to hinder the full, transparent release of the Epstein files. Under recently ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi, relevant documents would be released over multiple drops, …

Melania’s body language says it all in 5 moves during Epstein speech | World | News

Melania’s body language says it all in 5 moves during Epstein speech | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

A body language expert has revealed five moves made by Melania Trump during her bombshell speech in Washington furiously denying any connection with the disgraced paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. The American First Lady made the speech at the White House denying ties to Epstein and knowledge of his sex crimes, saying the “stories are completely false” and calling accusations that she was somehow involved “smears about me” Reading an extraordinary statement, Melania said she and her attorneys were fighting back against “unfound and baseless lies” in regards to her connections to the late financier, a convicted sex offender who leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his crimes. Melania mentioned her husband Donald Trump several times in her comments. She said Epstein did not introduce her to Trump and that she met her future husband at a New York City party in 1998. TV body language expert and author Judi James told the Express there were five moves made by Melania during her speech which made clear …

Melania Trump Makes Rare Address to Nation, Denying She Is “Epstein’s Victim”

Melania Trump Makes Rare Address to Nation, Denying She Is “Epstein’s Victim”

Published by Sam Flores

In a rare public address from the White House this afternoon, first lady Melania Trump denied having any connection to Jeffrey Epstein or knowledge of his crimes, saying, “I am not Epstein’s victim” and “Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump.” “I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity—I was not a participant, was never on Epstein’s plane, and never visited his private island,” she told reporters. The first lady rebuked the “fake images and statements” regarding her and the convicted sex offender that, she said, “have been circulating on social media for years now.” The first time she “crossed paths with Epstein,” she said, was in 2000 at an event she attended with the now president. “At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings,” the first lady said. It was not clear what prompted Thursday’s remarks to the press or what specific images and statements she was referring to. Last August she threatened Hunter …

Melania Trump denies ties with paedo Epstein in unexpected bombshell statement | World | News

Melania Trump denies ties with paedo Epstein in unexpected bombshell statement | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

Melania Trump has issued a bombshell statement denying any ties to the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Esptein. Speaking in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, Donald Trump’s wife and the US First Lady said: “To be clear, I never had relations with Epstein or his accomplice Maxwell. “I was never friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance.” The bombshell statement was totally unexpected, as there had not been any recent revelations linking her to Epstein, who committed suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in August 2019. Mrs Trump told the packed room: “I am not Esptein’s victim. I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998.” The US First Lady added she had seen “fake images and statements” linking her to the disgraced financier on …

‘Occasionally a picture can change the course of history’: 33 scandalous photos that shocked the world

‘Occasionally a picture can change the course of history’: 33 scandalous photos that shocked the world

Published by Sam Flores

Words can tell a story, but it’s pictures that will make you believe in it. Such is the power of a photograph; the ability to strip away illusions, to illuminate something hidden, and sometimes force us to accept unpalatable truths. When it comes to scandal, seeing is believing – occasionally even to the point that a picture changes the course of history. How might life have been different for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had he not been photographed clutching the midriff of the 17-year-old girl he would later claim he had never met? Without this haunting triptych of the former prince, the late Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein’s fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell, hovering in the background, there would have been nothing physical to connect the then prince with a trafficking victim. Though for years Andrew’s friends insisted that the photograph must have been doctored, buried within the Epstein files recently released by the US Department of Justice is a note from Maxwell that appears to confirm it is real. But more often in what follows, the camera simply …

Trump fires loyalist Pam Bondi as US attorney general

Trump fires loyalist Pam Bondi as US attorney general

Published by Sam Flores

US President Donald Trump on Thursday fired his attorney general, Pam Bondi, and designated his former personal lawyer Todd Blanche as her replacement at the head of the Justice Department. Bondi “will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector”, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform. “Our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General.” Trump had grown “more and more frustrated” with Bondi in recent days, a source familiar with the White House discussions said on Thursday. The announcement follows months of scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation that made Bondi the target of angry conservatives even with her close relationship with Trump. She also struggled to satisfy Trump’s demands to prosecute his political rivals, with multiple investigations rejected by judges or grand juries. Read moreUS lawmakers probe Epstein’s wealth as ex-accountant testifies on finances and ties The former Florida attorney general came into office last year pledging that she would not play politics with the Justice Department, but she quickly started investigations of Trump foes, sparking an outcry that the law enforcement agency was being wielded as a tool of revenge to advance the president’s political and personal agenda. Justice department upheaval …

Warren Buffett says he hasn’t talked to Bill Gates

Warren Buffett says he hasn’t talked to Bill Gates

Published by Sam Flores

Warren Buffett said Tuesday that he has not spoken to Microsoft founder Bill Gates “since the whole thing” with the Jeffrey Epstein files “was unveiled.” “I haven’t talked to him at all since the whole thing was unveiled,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick on “Squawk Box.” “I don’t want to be in a position where I know things … to be called as a witness,” said the Berkshire Hathaway chairman, who since 2006 has donated more than $43 billion to the Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization founded by Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda Gates. Gates became friends with Epstein in 2011, three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Emails and photos detailing Gates and Epstein’s friendships have been revealed in documents released by the Department of Justice and Congress since late 2025. Gates, in February, apologized to staff at the Gates Foundation for his association with Epstein and admitted having affairs with two Russian women, which Epstein learned of, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. …

The Epstein Files Release: A “Betrayal” of Victims

The Epstein Files Release: A “Betrayal” of Victims

Published by Sam Flores

In court filings, the department conceded its “inherent limitations” but made no mention of how those leading the department might have contributed to an even more “limited” effort. A former prosecutor at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told me that “when prosecutors resign”—as many DOJ attorneys did throughout 2025—“they leave behind their case files and investigations, and unless new hires are made at the same rate of departures, those left behind might be forced to take on heavier caseloads.” The resources are typically available at DOJ for a large-scale project like this, adds a former senior official in a federal prosecutor’s office, but if assistant US attorneys have full caseloads, “it does not give you the bodies to put on the case. Or at the very least, the attention of those assigned is diverted.” The DOJ may have been shorthanded thanks to the Trump administration’s approach to HR, but it wasn’t just the reduced workforce. The monthslong campaign to delay and then entirely block the release of the files—combined with the DOJ’s prior claims that …