A victim of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring praised first lady Melania Trump on Friday for urging Congress to hold a hearing for all the victims.
Melania Trump refuted claims that she had ties to Epstein and called on Congress to allow victims to testify about Epstein’s operation. One survivor, Alicia Arden, told “CNN News Central” that she is “proud” of Melania for speaking out about an on-the-record congressional hearing.
“I’m really happy and really quite proud of Melania to call for a hearing so that if we want to, if I want to testify before Congress about what Jeffrey Epstein did to me, the other victims can come with me, they can come and testify with me,” Arden said. “I’m very happy that Melania is wanting to ask Congress for a hearing for us. So, I would be very, very happy to testify before Congress and I think that it’s really great that she’s wanting to do that for us.”
WATCH:
Melania’s legal team forced The Daily Beast, HarperCollins UK, and political commentator James Carville to retract their allegations that Melania had close ties to Epstein and that she and President Donald Trump met through the now-disgraced sex offender. The Daily Beast alleged in an article from August that Melania met her husband through ID Models founder Paolo Zampolli, who had ties to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, though Melania stated Thursday that she and Trump met by chance at a party in New York City.
The first lady also stated that she was never friends with Epstein or Maxwell and only ran into them at some social gatherings.
“The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect,” Melania said. “I do not object to their ignorance, but rather, I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation. I’ve never been friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach. To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, [Ghislaine] Maxwell.”
Trump said in July that he permanently cut ties with Epstein after he “stole” spa workers from Mar-a-Lago. He was one of the first individuals to call the police on Epstein to alert them that he was sexually abusing underage girls, a document released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed on Feb. 1.
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