First lady Melania Trump unexpectedly summoned reporters to the White House on Thursday, where she read from a prepared statement denying any relationship with the late serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Melania Trump: “I have never had any knowledge of Epstein 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.”

Melania Trump also acknowledged she’d exchanged emails with Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in 2002, but dismissed it as “casual correspondence.” A document from the Justice Department’s incomplete release of the Epstein files shows Maxwell referred to Melania in an email as “sweet pea,” to which Melania replied, “Give me a call when you are back in NY.” The letter concluded, “Love, Melania.” Melania Trump infamously appears in a 2000 photo posing alongside her husband and next to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Meanwhile, the first lady is calling on Congress to hold a public hearing specifically centered around Epstein survivors. In response, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, said he agreed, urging Republican committee chair James Comer to schedule hearings immediately. The first lady’s comments reportedly caught White House officials off guard, including President Trump, who told an MS NOW reporter he had no prior knowledge of what his wife was preparing to say.