He urged the committee chairman, Republican Representative James Comer, “to respond to the First Lady’s request and schedule a public hearing immediately”.
Family of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, Sky and Amanda Roberts, and other survivors told BBC Newsnight that they “have already shown extraordinary courage by coming forward, filing reports, and giving testimony.
“Asking more of them now is a deflection of responsibility, not justice,” they said in a statement. They accused the first lady of protecting “those with power”, including members of her husband’s administration who they said still have not released all of the investigative files related to Epstein.
“Survivors have done their part,” they said. “Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs.”
The relationship between the first lady and Epstein has already led to legal battles.
In October 2025, for example, HarperCollins UK said it would retract passages from a book that included “unverified” claims that Donald Trump and his wife met through Epstein. Similarly, the Daily Beast retracted and apologised for an article the publication later said “did not meet our standards.”
The first lady also has been embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute with author Michael Wolff over a claim in his book Fire and Fury that she was first introduced to her husband through a modelling agent tied to Epstein.
Wolff moved to counter-sue her after she threatened him with a $1bn (£745mn) defamation lawsuit.
“My attorneys and I have fought these unfounded and baseless lies with success, and will continue to maintain my sound reputation without hesitation,” she said on Thursday.
Her statement at the White House is an extremely rare appearance by the first lady, one of only a handful of similar events for a first lady who has proven both elusive and influential since her husband returned to the White House
The first lady’s statement is likely to reignite intense public debate over the handling of the justice department’s investigation into Epstein and the subsequent release of its files.
While Donald Trump has acknowledged that he knew Epstein for a time, he later claimed he expelled him from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach for being a “creep”.
The president was mentioned numerous times in the Epstein files, but there is no indication of wrongdoing.