Melania Trump adviser speaks on what led to her surprise Epstein statement
U.S. first lady Melania Trump delivers a statement at the Grand Foyer of the White House on April 9, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A senior adviser to first lady Melania Trump, Marc Beckman, said she wanted to “set the record straight” when she delivered her surprise statement at the White House denying any ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Beckman elaborated on the first lady’s decision to publicly address the Epstein controversy during an appearance Friday morning on “Fox & Friends.”
“If she can’t stick up for herself, if she can’t defend herself and make sure that her reputation is impeccable, who will do it? Nobody’s done it to date,” Beckman said.
“She’s ready to fight,” he added.
The press was not given advance notice on the topic of the first lady’s Thursday remarks, in which she said she never had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and that she had no relationship with Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, his co-conspirator who was convicted of sex trafficking.
The first lady also called for public hearings into the Epstein controversy and to allow survivors to testify before Congress if they wish to do so.
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” Melania Trump said.
A spokesperson for the first lady’s office said the West Wing was aware she would make a statement.
But sources told ABC News that White House officials were caught off guard by the topic of her address, with some questioning why she was commenting on the subject now.
President Donald Trump said he did not know the first lady was going to make a statement today about Epstein, according to an MS Now reporter who said she had a brief phone interview with the president.
Asked by ABC News for clarification, a spokesperson for the first lady directed any questions about Trump’s knowledge about her statement to the West Wing. But the White House has said any questions related to the statement should come from her office.
President Trump has tried to shift focus away from the Epstein controversy, repeatedly calling it a “Democratic hoax.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a recent interview, said the Epstein files matter “should not be a part of anything going forward” at the Department of Justice.
Beckman was asked on “Fox & Friends” why Melania Trump decided to come forward at this moment.
“First, enough is enough. This has been ongoing and it’s time for the public to refocus their attention on what achievements our first lady has done,” Beckman said, pointing to her foster care and education initiatives.
Beckman echoed the first lady’s comments that fake images and stories about her and Epstein have circulated for years, prompting her to come out and address them — despite headlines in recent weeks moving on from the Epstein files.
“The first lady accomplished three things yesterday as it relates to the disgraceful Epstein,” he said. “First, she cleared her record. She set the record straight. She debunked all of the lies surrounding her and Epstein. Second, she became a champion for these women, for the victims. Finally, third, she is a real leader in Washington, D.C. She is calling on Congress to act now.”
ABC News asked the White House if the president agrees with the first lady that Epstein’s victims should testify before Congress but has not gotten a response.
A group of 13 Epstein survivors and the brother and sister-in-law of another accused the first lady of “shifting the burden onto survivors,” rather than pushing for accountability.
“Survivors have done their part. Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs,” they said.
ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
A view of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts which was recently renamed The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the performing arts in Washington, DC on December 29, 2025. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s plan for a “Complete Rebuilding” of the Kennedy Center in Washington has sparked a legal debate over whether he — or Congress — has the power to control the high-profile cultural institution.
The battle began in December, when Trump’s name was added to the building’s facade — above the existing signage that reads “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” — following a unanimous vote by Trump’s hand-picked board of center trustees.
It escalated recently, when Trump announced it would close in July for two years — to make major renovations he said were necessary.
Some members of Congress are pushing back, including in court, alleging Trump’s actions are unlawful and should be reversed.
What does the law say? Here’s a closer look at what the law and history say on the question:
Since Congress created the cultural institution in a federal statute, designating it as a living memorial in 1964 shortly after President John F. Kennedy’s death and then through its expansion in the 2010s, it has been operated by both the executive and legislative branches — contributing to the legal debate.
While the executive branch oversees the appointments of the center’s board of trustees, Congress has the ultimate say on what money gets appropriated and what projects get approved.
The House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies grants the center’s board the power to act on any proposed and approved changes.
According to the top Democrat on the subcommittee, Rep. Chellie Pingree, the panel has historically controlled all funding, project management and security, separate from the executive branch or what is voted on by the center’s trustees.
Congress has proposed and authorized expansive construction projects, such as the REACH expansion adjacent to the Kennedy Center, designed for artist collaboration, to smaller standard year-to-year maintenance costs.
When Trump’s signature legislation passed in July, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” it circumvented the subcommittee, instead directly appropriating $256,657,000 for “necessary expenses for capital repair, restoration, maintenance backlog, and security structures of the building.”
In a statement, the Kennedy Center’s new president, Richard Grenell, a Trump appointee, said, “I am grateful for President Trump’s visionary leadership. I am also grateful to Congress for appropriating an historic $257M to finally address decades of deferred maintenance and repairs at the Trump Kennedy Center.”
The Trump administration has suggested these already appropriated funds will cover any costs of his proposed major renovation.
“It desperately needs this renovation and temporarily closing the center just makes sense — it will enable us to better invest our resources, think bigger and make the historic renovations more comprehensive,” Grenell said. “It also means we will be finished faster.”
Limits on the president’s power? Georgetown University law professor David Super told ABC News that even though the money for those changes is already appropriated by Congress, Trump and his administration do not have total freedom to make decisions.
“The Constitution says that no money shall be drawn for the Treasury except in accordance with an appropriation passed by Congress,” Super said. “He can spend that money for any of the purposes Congress provided it for, and that includes deferred maintenance, repair, restoration, renovation. It does not allow him to rebuild it.”
While Trump has suggested major renovations, no plans have been officially released or shared with the congressional subcommittee overseeing the center. During an Oval Office photo, Trump said the steel would be “fully exposed” but not removed.
“I’m not ripping it down. I’ll be using the steel,” he said. “So, we’re using the structure. We’re using some of the marble and some of the marble comes down, but when it’s opened, it’ll be brand new and really beautiful. It’ll be at the highest level.”
Super said if those renovations align with the language of the law Congress has passed, it is within Trump’s legal right both as president — and chair of the Kennedy Center’s board — to go forward. If the renovations go beyond what the law spells out and allows, Super said, his moves would be unconstitutional.
“Some of his remarks about ‘maybe, they will use the marble, maybe they won’t’, imply that he’s planning something much more than renovation or repair,” Super said. “If so, then he would be violating the language of the appropriation, and therefore the Constitution.”
When asked whether the president would keep his plan within the constraints laid out by Congress, White House spokeswoman Liz Hudston told ABC News: “While the Democrats neglected the Trump-Kennedy Center for years, President Trump immediately stepped up to rescue and revitalize the institution.”
Hudston also included some intended uses of the funds for maintenance, including “repairing and, where necessary, replacing elements on the exterior of the building,” and “work to bring the Trump-Kennedy Center into compliance with current life safety codes and security standard.”
So far, there are no lawsuits alleging Trump’s proposed renovations to the center are illegal.
The renaming The center’s controversial renaming presents another legal question.
When the building was designated a living memorial in 1964, Congress wrote in explicit language on how the center should be named and operated.
U.S. Public Law 88-260 dictates the U.S. must “be held to designate or refer to such Center as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
“They really left very little to the imagination, and detailed what they wanted the Kennedy Center to be,” Super said, adding, “there are many things Congress creates that it doesn’t name, and that’s left to the president to name, but here is a law saying it shall be known as the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
Super said that regardless of what the board of trustees decides, the name will legally remain as written in the statute.
“And as a duly passed law of Congress, this binds you, it binds me, and it binds the president,” Super said. “The money that the president says he wants to spend on renovating the Kennedy Center is money that was appropriated for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, not for the Trump-Kennedy Center. So, if he in fact uses that money, he is acknowledging that its name did not change.”
A former Kennedy Center trustee, Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, has filed a lawsuit to stop Trump and the board of trustees from changing the Kennedy Center’s name and wants Trump’s name removed.
U.S. Code § 76j states that “the Board shall assure that after December 2, 1983, no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
“Because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress,” Beatty’s lawsuit said. “But on December 18 and 19, 2025 — in scenes more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American republic — the sitting President and his handpicked loyalists renamed this storied center after President Trump.”
Pingree said her subcommittee has been told little about Trump’s plans and that she had instead learned about his proposed changes through social media.
“What’s going to happen now?” Pingree told ABC News, adding,” he tore down the East Wing. Does this mean he thinks he’s going to tear down the Kennedy Center and just rebuild it as a monument to himself?”
With lawmakers beginning discussions on funding for 2027, Pingree said she is working with her Republican counterpart to demand information.
“We will certainly say to them, we’re not going to allocate any money in this cycle until you give us more information about what you’re doing,” Pingree said.
“If that money is currently being used just to keep the place afloat because ticket sales are off and performers won’t perform, then it’s not going to go to the desperately needed. I believe there are some really important things that need to be done to that building,” she said.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks from the Cross Hall of the White House on April 1, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHNGTON) — President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he plans to sign an order to pay “all” employees at the Department of Homeland Security amid the record-long agency shutdown.
“Help is on the way for our Brave and Patriotic Public Servants who have continued to work hard, and do their part to protect and defend our Country,” Trump wrote in a post to his social media platform.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Pope Leo XIV holds his speech as he pays a visit to the Maqam Echahid Martyr’s Memorial on April 13, 2026 in Algiers, Algeria. (Photo by Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
(ALGIERS and LONDON) — Pope Leo XIV on Monday responded to criticism from President Donald Trump, telling reporters while traveling to Algeria that he has “no fear” of the White House.
“I have no fear of the Trump administration, nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel,” the pontiff said on Monday, as he began a dayslong visit to four African nations. “That’s what I believe in. I am called to do what the church is called to do.”
The pope on Saturday called for an end to conflict, without explicitly mentioning the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. “Enough of war,” Leo said during a peace vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
The pope also suggested “delusion of omnipotence” is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, imploring the country leaders to come to a peace agreement.
Trump on Sunday night posted on social media calling the pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
The pope, who was born in Chicago and is the first American to lead the Catholic Church, was elevated to his position in May 2025, a few months into Trump’s second term. The president at that time congratulated Leo, saying on social media that it was “such an honor” for an American to become pope.
The pontiff has voiced concern about several armed conflicts, repeatedly calling for peace, including mentioning the civil war raging in Sudan, the Russia-Ukraine war and the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. He has called for peace in Iran and the broader Middle East since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
The pontiff has been a strong messenger for global peace since the start of his papacy last May.
He has repeatedly called for the parties involved to engage in negotiations, including saying on March 1 that he was making “a heartfelt appeal to all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm.” He has said that “God does not bless any conflict.”
Leo said on Monday that his comments “are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone and the message of the Gospel is very clear, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.'”
“I will not shy away from pronouncing the message of the Gospel, of inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges for peace and reconciliation, of looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible,” Leo continued. “To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is and I’m sorry to hear that.”
Trump early on Monday had called for the pope to focus on “being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”
“It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!” Trump wrote on his social media network.
Responding to a question from reporters hours later, Leo said of the apparent tensions with Trump, “I do not look at my role as being political … I don’t want to get into a debate with him. I don’t think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing.”
“I will continue to speak out loud against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue, multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems,” he said. “Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say, ‘There’s a better way to do this.'”
