Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Thursday, April ninth. Then we start
Speaker 1: this episode with a question what just happened? And with that,
Speaker 1: Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ, where we
Speaker 1: ask and I asked Robes what just happened? We were
Speaker 1: waiting for some press announcement from Milania Trump.
Speaker 2: What just happened?
Speaker 3: I actually don't really have words, because no one was
Speaker 3: expecting Malania Trump to speak about something that President Trump
Speaker 3: has been trying to distance himself from desperately for since
Speaker 3: the beginning of his administration, to the point where some
Speaker 3: folks would even say he might have even started a
Speaker 3: war or invaded multiple countries to avoid or to shift
Speaker 3: the topic from Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaker 1: Whatever he did worked because it has not been the
Speaker 1: headline for a while, right, Robes, that's correct until today
Speaker 1: at two thirty Eastern time.
Speaker 2: Robes, I ask again, what just happened?
Speaker 3: I cannot get my head around or find a plausible,
Speaker 3: reasonable explanation as to why the first lady would get
Speaker 3: in front of a podium and start telling the world
Speaker 3: that she has nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein, that
Speaker 3: she's never been friends with him, that she wasn't introduced
Speaker 3: to her husband, President Trump, by him.
Speaker 4: And then while.
Speaker 3: She's making all of these denials of claims I didn't
Speaker 3: even know she was being accused of or that anyone
Speaker 3: was even talking about.
Speaker 4: And she pimps out her book in the.
Speaker 3: Middle of it, which was a weird little morsel to drop, Hey.
Speaker 1: We're gonna let you hear every single word. It was
Speaker 1: a short statement that she read it. It won't take
Speaker 1: us long to read it. It took her a little
Speaker 1: longer because she English is not her first language, and
Speaker 1: she took her time with it throughout. But Robes, to
Speaker 1: your point, still Epstein, Why did the first Lady of
Speaker 1: the United States just put the Epstein story back front
Speaker 1: and center at a White House that has been trying
Speaker 1: to get away from it for a long time. She
Speaker 1: just brought this up to the top. And if we
Speaker 1: haven't mentioned folks, she's also said in her statement she
Speaker 1: wants the victims, the survivors to come testify openly in Congress.
Speaker 2: Robes, what just happened?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Did she and President Trump get into a big fight
Speaker 3: and she just decided to drop a big fu on
Speaker 3: him to let him know what power she actually does have,
Speaker 3: Because that's honestly the most reasonable explanation I can give
Speaker 3: as a woman, because I'm trying to imagine any scenario
Speaker 3: in which politically this makes sense for President Trump, for
Speaker 3: the Trump administration. There is no answer to that other
Speaker 3: than this is a woman who is pissed at her husband.
Speaker 1: Or she's pissed at how she's being covered. She's pissed
Speaker 1: that she's not getting support from the White House, and
Speaker 1: she wants to do things on her own, in her
Speaker 1: own way. But she's defending herself against an attack that
Speaker 1: the rest of us aren't necessarily feeling. She mentioned several
Speaker 1: times in several things, I there's something she's feeling about
Speaker 1: the Epstein's story that's coming down on her that she
Speaker 1: felt today she wanted to defend. Why today, Why in
Speaker 1: the midst of everything going on, Why when the Epstein
Speaker 1: story is not dogging her president or her husband right now?
Speaker 1: Why bring this back right now?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it makes no sense.
Speaker 3: We haven't been talking about Epstein now for the past
Speaker 3: several weeks because of what's happening in Aran. There are
Speaker 3: much now more significant pressing concerning issues to deal with,
Speaker 3: so Epstein has been put on the back burner. Why
Speaker 3: bring it now back into the forefront when this was
Speaker 3: and will be I'm sure the biggest thorn in President
Speaker 3: Trump's side. Why does she need to defend herself from
Speaker 3: allegations we didn't even know we're being hurled against her recently.
Speaker 3: At least some of this stuff is old. Some of
Speaker 3: this stuff has been put to bed a long time ago.
Speaker 3: Most of this stuff, I would say, all of this
Speaker 3: stuff isn't being currently discussed in the around the water
Speaker 3: coolers of America.
Speaker 1: They're somewhere in some circle. She feels like it is,
Speaker 1: and she felt like she needed to speak today. We're
Speaker 1: gonna let you hear now her words. This is every
Speaker 1: word that she spoke at the White House. Again, we
Speaker 1: only got word late morning. I think it was Robes
Speaker 1: that she was going to be making a statement two
Speaker 1: thirty Eastern time from the White House. Had no idea
Speaker 1: what this was going to be about, but collected all
Speaker 1: the reporters there to cover her statement. Now she walks
Speaker 1: out Robes. It looked exactly like one of his walkouts
Speaker 1: for a presidential speech to talk about war. I'm just
Speaker 1: setting the scene for you if you haven't seen it.
Speaker 2: She did. They open these doors, She did a long,
Speaker 2: very presidential walk to the podium.
Speaker 3: It was a powerful formal walk. She was in a
Speaker 3: business suit.
Speaker 1: It's set a tone for what we were about to hear.
Speaker 1: But I still wasn't expecting this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was like boss lady just walked in.
Speaker 3: Was that was the vibe I saw when she was
Speaker 3: walking in And this is what she said, Good afternoon.
Speaker 3: The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need
Speaker 3: to end today.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: When she said that first sentence, we were all like,
Speaker 3: what is it about to happen?
Speaker 2: Because you know where is what is happening and why
Speaker 2: is it happening? Now? Got our attention?
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 3: She goes on to say the individuals lying about me
Speaker 3: are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect. I do
Speaker 3: not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their
Speaker 3: mean spirited attempts to defame my reputation. I have never
Speaker 3: been friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to
Speaker 3: the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since
Speaker 3: overlapping in social circles is common in New York City
Speaker 3: and Palm Beach. To be clear, I never had a
Speaker 3: relationship with Epstein or his accomplice Maxwell. My email replied
Speaker 3: to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence.
Speaker 3: My polite reply to her email doesn't amount to anything
Speaker 3: more than a trivial note. I'm gonna stop here. What
Speaker 3: is she talking about?
Speaker 1: It came out in the Epstein files, all those There
Speaker 1: was some email exchange in which Glaye Maxwell called her
Speaker 1: sweetie or something like that, and it was just it
Speaker 1: was coquially, it was sweet. It was no, it wasn't
Speaker 1: the end of the world, but she it seemed friendlier
Speaker 1: than she would suggest, okaytionship.
Speaker 3: To your point, it was released during the Epstein file dump.
Speaker 3: I never saw one article written about it. I'm just
Speaker 3: saying nobody was talking about it. So it's interesting that
Speaker 3: she felt like this was something she could reference and
Speaker 3: everybody would know what she was talking about. I'll be honest,
Speaker 3: I did not, all right, She goes on to say,
Speaker 3: I am not Epstein's victim.
Speaker 4: Huh.
Speaker 3: Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met
Speaker 3: my husband by chance at a New York City party
Speaker 3: in nineteen ninety eight. This initial encounter with my husband
Speaker 3: is documented in detail in my book Mulania. At what
Speaker 3: point we will look at each other and just said
Speaker 3: she did not just see that.
Speaker 2: You stop there. Yeah, we need to What do we
Speaker 2: do baby with that?
Speaker 1: I mean, that's terrible. No, I mean, okay, look, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm trying. Let me try to give her a little grace.
Speaker 1: It was detailed in my book. It was detailed, or
Speaker 1: has been detailed and documented plenty. I wrote about it myself,
Speaker 1: even in my book by putting the title something about
Speaker 1: a scene promotional.
Speaker 3: Exactly when you just said that in those different versions
Speaker 3: that did not seem as blatantly self promotional.
Speaker 4: When you drop the name.
Speaker 3: I actually, I think I said when we were listening
Speaker 3: and can be found anywhere books are sold.
Speaker 4: You know, that's what it sounded like.
Speaker 2: It did. I didn't.
Speaker 4: I don't, all right, I'll continue.
Speaker 2: It felt it felt gross. I'm just it just felt gross,
Speaker 2: it did.
Speaker 3: All right, she continues. The first time I crossed paths
Speaker 3: with Epstein was in the year two thousand, at an
Speaker 3: event Donald and I attended together. At the time, I
Speaker 3: had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his
Speaker 3: criminal undertakings. Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and
Speaker 3: me have been circulating on social media for years. Now
Speaker 3: be cautious about what you believe. These images and stories
Speaker 3: are completely false. Again though, she references that this has
Speaker 3: been going on for years now, and that begs the
Speaker 3: question that we've all been asking this entire time. Why
Speaker 3: now are you talking about this.
Speaker 1: I don't know what her plan was with this statement.
Speaker 1: I had no idea about what she's talking about. Now
Speaker 1: I want to go google all of it exactly. I mean,
Speaker 1: she's told everybody to go look at something that maybe
Speaker 1: we weren't looking at. I don't know the motivation behind this,
Speaker 1: but it's something Again, maybe we aren't keeping as close
Speaker 1: up an eye on something that's been bubbling out there,
Speaker 1: but we have a decent handle on news.
Speaker 3: This has not been anything that has been a.
Speaker 4: TikTok trend, an ex trend.
Speaker 3: I mean, we do check all of those things, not
Speaker 3: just the mainstream publications and pop culture sites.
Speaker 4: But this is not something we have been seeing in
Speaker 4: any way, shape or form.
Speaker 3: So it's just it's curious why suddenly she now wants
Speaker 3: to talk about something like this and references all of
Speaker 3: it as if we're we're on the same page. This
Speaker 3: is strange, all right, she continues, I am not a
Speaker 3: witness or a named witness in connection with any of
Speaker 3: Epstein's crimes. My name has never appeared in court documents, depositions,
Speaker 3: victim statements, or FBI interviews surrounding the Epstein matter. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think we know that, So I don't know why
Speaker 3: she needs to say this. She goes on to say,
Speaker 3: I have never had any knowledge of Epstein's abuse of
Speaker 3: his victims. I was never involved in any capacity. I
Speaker 3: was not a participant, was never on Epstein's plane, and
Speaker 3: never visited his private island. I have never been legally
Speaker 3: accused or convicted of a crime in connection with Epstein's
Speaker 3: sex trafficking, abusive miners, and other repulsive behavior. The false
Speaker 3: smears about me from mean spirited and politically motivated individuals
Speaker 3: and entities looking to cause damage to my good name
Speaker 3: to gain financially and climb politically must stop. My attorneys
Speaker 3: and I have fought these unfounded and baseless lies with success,
Speaker 3: and will continue to maintain my sound reputation without hesitation.
Speaker 3: To date, several individuals and companies have been legally obligated
Speaker 3: to publicly apologize and retract their lives about me, such
Speaker 3: as The Daily Beast James Carville and Harper Collins UK.
Speaker 3: Now is the time for Congress to act. Epstein was
Speaker 3: not alone, Okay, several prominent male executives resigned from their
Speaker 3: powerful positions after this matter became widely politicized. Of course,
Speaker 3: this doesn't amount to guilt, but we still must work
Speaker 3: openly and transparently to uncover the truth.
Speaker 4: And here's where she surprised us even more.
Speaker 3: I call on Congress to provide the women who have
Speaker 3: been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered
Speaker 3: around the survivors. Give these victims their opportunity to testify
Speaker 3: under oath in front of Congress with the power of
Speaker 3: sworn testimony. Each and every woman should have her day
Speaker 3: to tell her story in public if she wishes, and
Speaker 3: then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional record.
Speaker 3: Then and only then will we have the truth.
Speaker 1: It's pretty big, wow, a pretty big while if the
Speaker 1: first lady just called for that, given who her husband
Speaker 1: is and where he sits in the middle of this
Speaker 1: whole Epstein saga, and we, if we didn't mention before,
Speaker 1: already robes that yes, it's being reported as the President
Speaker 1: had a heads up she was going to do this,
Speaker 1: as if this was her plan, and he was only
Speaker 1: alerted to it, not consulted about it. Now that's initial
Speaker 1: reporting about this. But Robes, how how if he knew,
Speaker 1: how could he not going say, babe, why don't you
Speaker 1: just give it a couple of days? Okay, just let
Speaker 1: me handle a few things. I know you upset, but
Speaker 1: just can we just please?
Speaker 4: So I'm going to go back to my original theory
Speaker 4: after it.
Speaker 3: And I'm curious what other people think who are listening
Speaker 3: to this, because.
Speaker 4: What could have been her motivation?
Speaker 3: I cannot imagine that President Trump would have been okay
Speaker 3: with this, and I just can't think of another reason
Speaker 3: other than this was deliberate, intentional, and potentially even directed
Speaker 3: in anger.
Speaker 1: Now that is I find that to be. Something about
Speaker 1: your theory warms my heart. And I say that because
Speaker 1: you brought this back to a very much human level,
Speaker 1: a level of relationship a husband and a wife, and
Speaker 1: there's a beef in their relationship just like any other, except.
Speaker 2: The stakes so much higher.
Speaker 1: Yes, when one gets pissed, there's something about your theory
Speaker 1: that I actually appreciate. However, there is another theory the
Speaker 1: Robes and I haven't. We hadn't even considered until my
Speaker 1: sister put this theory in our head just a minute ago.
Speaker 1: Stay here, I will continue here on Amy and TJ.
Speaker 1: We oftentimes folks will let you know, we do several
Speaker 1: different episodes and we have to decide where they're going
Speaker 1: to go. Do they go into our news feed, does
Speaker 1: it go into our relationship feed? Does it go into
Speaker 1: a crime feed that we have. And it's amazing rogues
Speaker 1: this story now about Malania Trump could end up in
Speaker 1: the relationship feed based on what your theory is. Possibly
Speaker 1: that she came out and spoke her mind today because
Speaker 1: she is pissed in some way at her husband.
Speaker 3: Yes, and perhaps maybe she thinks that I don't know,
Speaker 3: nothing was done or not enough was done to protect
Speaker 3: her from being even in any way, shape or form
Speaker 3: mentioned as a part of this story. But it's just
Speaker 3: I think the reason why my brain went there just
Speaker 3: because not only does it not make sense for her
Speaker 3: husband politically, but just the timing of it. Unless we're
Speaker 3: all missing some big headline that was released in some
Speaker 3: obscure country that we haven't picked up on yet, we
Speaker 3: know of a headline that would have warranted a response
Speaker 3: like this now. Obviously, if there had been some awful
Speaker 3: accusation of you know, hurled at her and then she
Speaker 3: came out and did this, that would make sense. But
Speaker 3: I can't see anywhere where anyone who's picked up on
Speaker 3: something she's specifically reacting to that we just aren't aware of.
Speaker 1: And so as we're looking for theory and we're thinking
Speaker 1: we're crazy. So we've talked to been talking about this today,
Speaker 1: Robaka and Ira in Northwest Arkansas at University of Arkansas,
Speaker 1: my alma mater, spending the weekend several days here, got
Speaker 1: family around here with my sister. We were all, look,
Speaker 1: we're all aware, smart, informed people, and we're all trying
Speaker 1: to come up with some theory like why would she
Speaker 1: do this now? And we're trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1: We start watching several other news channels, just going back
Speaker 1: and forth and making sure we weren't missing something. We
Speaker 1: do that sometimes like absolutely, wait a minute, it's got
Speaker 1: to be right there in our face. All of them
Speaker 1: are dumbfounded as well. Nobody can figure out. Nobody figure
Speaker 1: out why. And then my sister says something and both
Speaker 1: of us went, oh, that's probably it. That makes sense,
Speaker 1: And she said wait, for it. There's probably something coming
Speaker 1: that she knows and she's getting ahead of it.
Speaker 3: And that would be really smart. I said, ooh, wild Tish,
Speaker 3: I think you might have nailed it. That is that
Speaker 3: would make sense as well. But it has to be
Speaker 3: something like that because out of the blue.
Speaker 4: Look, the timing of it just is a head scratcher.
Speaker 3: So yes, if she's getting ahead of something, that would
Speaker 3: make sense, or if she's trying to pay back something
Speaker 3: that might make sense too.
Speaker 4: But those are the only two. That's the only two
Speaker 4: things I've got that would make any sense.
Speaker 1: Okay, I will leave room for one other possibility that
Speaker 1: this was just on her heart and this has just
Speaker 1: been weighing her down, and this is just she's had enough.
Speaker 2: And the world goes on.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if my husband is bombing a civilization
Speaker 1: out of existence, it doesn't matter or what was happening anywhere.
Speaker 1: The world continues to move, and this is a part
Speaker 1: of my world, and this is on I've been holding.
Speaker 2: Off long enough, and today is the day.
Speaker 1: Is that possible that she's just genuinely sick of it
Speaker 1: or sick of something that she wanted to speak today?
Speaker 3: My cynical self can't, can't, can't really give that much weight.
Speaker 3: But yes, maybe there is a teeny tiny version of
Speaker 3: the world where that could exist. But how much do
Speaker 3: you think President Trump knew about the content? I mean,
Speaker 3: obviously they had been promoting this all morning long, so
Speaker 3: it's not like he was blindsided. I mean, I believe
Speaker 3: as early as seven o'clock this morning, we were hearing
Speaker 3: that she was going to make an announcement, So obviously
Speaker 3: he was aware she was presenting something.
Speaker 4: I would assume he would know what she was saying.
Speaker 1: And couldn't stop her from saying it, didn't mind her
Speaker 1: saying it. Maybe this is a part of a whole
Speaker 1: strategy and we are being played once again falling for it.
Speaker 1: Who knows, because you know what we haven't mentioned in
Speaker 1: this twenty minute episode is the season run that ten
Speaker 1: point plan talking about Malania. We're back to Epstein. They're like,
Speaker 1: who we got Epstein headlines again?
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. If that's where we are, we've got
Speaker 3: bigger problems. But yes, this was a very interesting press conference.
Speaker 3: I don't think one that any of us could have
Speaker 3: seen coming, and certainly as it was happening, we're still
Speaker 3: questioning what we were actually hearing.
Speaker 4: But look, it's never boring.
Speaker 2: How about that.
Speaker 4: We always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone I maybe
Speaker 4: robot alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon.