Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said he agreed with Melania Trump that there should be a hearing for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
“Yes, I’ve always planned on having hearings with the victims,” he said on Fox News on Friday.
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“There are some victims who are willing to come in. Most victims aren’t, and I completely understand that. But we’ve always planned on having a hearing with Epstein victims once the depositions have been completed. So we have still got some more high-profile men that are coming in. Then I agree with the First Lady. We will have hearings.”
One Democratic Congressman went even further, saying Melania Trump herself should testify.
“Melania Trump must testify as to what she knows about other who men raped or abused the survivors,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said.
Reactions poured in after the first lady’s stunning statement on Thursday distancing herself from the dead, billionaire pedophile and his sex trafficking network.
Several victims of Epstein spoke up, as did author Michael Wolff, who exchanged numerous emails with Epstein and is now locked in a legal battle with the first lady over some of his allegations against her.
“I am not Epstein’s victim,” Melania Trump declared. “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.”
The first lady also called on Congress to hold a hearing for his victims.
“Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress, with the power of sworn testimony,” she said. “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.”
Many Democrats applauded her call to action, echoing her desire for a public hearing.
And Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.), who has criticized the president for not moving faster to release information on the case, praised Melania Trump for standing up for the victims.
“As a survivor, this isn’t political, it’s personal and when the First Lady of the United States stands up and demands justice for Epstein’s victims, it is truly momentous. These women deserve to be heard. Today, they were,” she said.
Not all the reaction to the first lady was positive.
Some victims were critical of her call for them to speak in a public setting in a government institution. Many feel the government did not take their case seriously enough and are still suspicious of prosecutors after Epstein was able to get a sweetheart deal in Florida in 2018.
“First Lady Melania Trump is now shifting the burden onto survivors under politicized conditions that protect those with power: the Department of Justice, law enforcement, prosecutors, and the Trump Administration, which has still not fully complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” a group of survivors said in a statement.
A federal law signed by President Trump requires the Justice Department to release all the files in the Epstein case. While a large cache was made public in January, not all the documents have been released as officials are in the process of redacting victims’ names and other personal information.
“Survivors have done their part. Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs,” their statement read.
And Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda questioned the motive behind Trump’s remarks.
“It sounds like you’re just trying to shift attention from something to something else,” she said in a post on Instagram.
The first lady’s timing sparked many questions about her decision to speak publicly. Her senior adviser, Marc Beckman, told The Post she was simply “tired of the lies.”
But Wolff had a more sinister theory.
He claimed – without proof – that Melania Trump “hates” her husband for dragging her into the Epstein “mess” and her televised address on Thursday showed that she’s “pissed.”
The first lady may even want Congress to investigate the president, he alleged.
Wolff, who is suing Melania Trump, is awaiting a ruling from a federal judge on Trump’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
“Is there new accusations or a big bombshell on the horizon?” he wondered.
Wolff, who has written several books on the Trump administration and spoke often with Epstein when he was alive, then dropped a wild accusation.
“The other perhaps obvious point might just be that she hates her husband. He’s the one who got her into this Epstein mess,” he said.
Trump’s team has long insisted Wolff’s books are works of fiction. The East Wing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Trump was friends with Epstein in the early 2000s when he was dating Melania. He has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. The two men ended their friendship at some point during that time period and Epstein didn’t attend the Trumps’ wedding at Mar-a-Lago.
President Trump has publicly worried that if Democrats win control of Congress in the midterms, they may subject him to investigations and possibly a third impeachment.
