The latest Epstein document dump has dragged Melania Trump straight into the spotlight, revealing a 2002 email in which the future first lady signed off with “Love” to Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime fixer and now-convicted sex trafficker.
The email appears in newly released Justice Department records tied to Epstein’s federal investigation. At the time, Melania was dating Donald Trump but had not yet married him. In the message, she chatted casually with Maxwell about travel, social plans, and a New York magazine story featuring Epstein.
“Dear G! How are you? Nice story about JE in NY mag… Give me a call when you are back in NY. Have a great time! Love, Melania,” the email reads, dated October 23, 2002.
Maxwell allegedly responded warmly, calling Melania “Sweet pea” and saying she would try to call once she returned to New York.
Neither Melania Trump nor Donald Trump has been accused of a crime related to Epstein. But the email lands hard because it places Melania in direct, friendly contact with Maxwell during the height of Epstein’s social access to elites — long before his arrest, disgrace, and death in federal custody.
The disclosure comes as the DOJ releases what officials describe as millions of pages of Epstein-related records, part of a long-delayed transparency effort that has reignited scrutiny of Epstein’s powerful connections.
The timing of the email only sharpens the optics. It was sent the same year Donald Trump told New York magazine he had “known Jeff for 15 years,” calling Epstein “a lot of fun” and noting that he liked women “on the younger side” — a quote that has aged catastrophically.
Another document in the file dump references Melania indirectly. In an email sent to Epstein the day after the 2016 election, a redacted sender recalled flying with Trump years earlier and described Trump repeatedly emerging from a bedroom after meeting Melania, boasting about her appearance.
Epstein, who died by “suicide” in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, cultivated relationships across politics, business, and celebrity. Trump has claimed their relationship ended years earlier.
What these files show, unmistakably, is that Epstein and Maxwell were not fringe figures in Trump’s orbit. They were familiar. They were social. And they were close enough to exchange friendly emails that now read far differently in hindsight.
As long as large portions of the Epstein files remain sealed, the questions aren’t going away — and neither is the fallout.
