How Jeffrey Epstein Made The First Lady
Two documents in the Epstein Files appear to confirm the same narrative: Epstein introduced Melania Knauss to Donald Trump
Two Documents, One Story
On the morning of November 9, 2016 — hours after Donald Trump won the presidency — someone sent Jeffrey Epstein a congratulatory email. Amid the pleasantries was a casual, devastating detail: the sender remembered flying on Trump’s plane the weekend Trump met Melania, the same weekend they first visited Epstein in Florida. Trump kept coming out of the bedroom, the sender recalled, calling her “a hot piece of ass.” The email wasn’t written for investigators or lawyers. It was a private note between friends, written with the easy familiarity of shared memory. Epstein already knew the story — because he was part of it.
Three years later, the FBI would hear a strikingly similar account — under oath.
The Witness
On July 12, 2019 — three days after Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in New York — a woman sat down with FBI agents and federal prosecutors in West Palm Beach, Florida under a proffer agreement. She spoke under penalty of perjury, meaning any lie could send her to prison for five years.
She was a former model. She had been recruited by Epstein around the end of 2004 and worked as his assistant from approximately 2005 until early 2006. Her last assignment was a trip to Paris. Over roughly one year, she traveled with Epstein to his Manhattan townhouse on 71st Street, his Palm Beach estate, his private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, his New Mexico ranch, Boston (specifically Harvard), and Paris. She saw everything.
The Modeling World as Recruitment Pipeline
Before working for Epstein, the witness was put in contact with an agent named Paolo Zempoli who worked with “ID Models.” This is Paolo Zampolli — the same man who claims he introduced Donald and Melania Trump at a Kit Kat Club party in 1998, and whom Trump later appointed as special envoy for international partnerships.
The FBI document states plainly: Zempoli was trying to buy Elite Models with Epstein. And then the critical line: EPSTEIN introduced MELANIA TRUMP to DONALD TRUMP.
Epstein was visiting Zempoli at the modeling agency when they were casting auditions for models. Epstein was looking through portfolios. Zempoli and Epstein were at a nightclub together. This wasn’t a casual social acquaintance. Epstein and Zampolli were business partners in the modeling world — and that modeling world was the very pipeline Epstein used to recruit young women.
The witness was herself drawn in through this pipeline. She was invited to Epstein’s 71st Street residence for dinner. Epstein made her wait while he played the piano. They had dinner in the dining room. He asked what she liked to do. She mentioned she thought there was a lot of Russian prostitution in the modeling industry. Epstein told her: “That’s what I like best.” He then took her to the massage room, took a “vibrating thing” and rubbed it on her. She told him to stop. A driver took her home. She remembered being tearful in the car.
But Epstein called the next day. And somehow everything progressed from there. He offered her a job, an apartment on 66th Street, and — notably — a Victoria’s Secret photo shoot. He told her she needed to work out to be a model and told her to go to a specific gym
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