Washington DC - President Donald Trump revealed to reporters that he did not "know anything about" Melania Trump's surprise statement about her association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Shortly after First Lady Melania Trump gave a shock address on her links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Trump reportedly denied that he knew she was going to make the statement until it had already happened.

"Just got off a quick call [with] President Trump," wrote MS Now reporter Jacqueline Alemany in a post on X after the address.

Trump "said he didn't 'know anything about' FLOTUS' statement prior to her on-camera appearance, but that he was in a meeting about the war [and] couldn't speak further," Alemany wrote.

"'She didn’t know him,' he added before hanging up, referring to Epstein."

The denial suggested that Melania had blindsided the president with her speech yesterday, a surprising move as Trump scrambles to cover up his well-documented associations with the convicted child sex trafficker.

Melania used the statement to deny any knowledge of Epstein's abuse, that she was ever a victim, and that she had a close relationship with him. She declared that "the lies linking me [with Epstein] need to end today."

Speaking to CNN, Trump's former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham expressed doubt about Alemany's claims.

"I'm going to say, I call BS on our president saying he knew nothing about it, because at the very least, I imagine she would have given him a heads up," Grisham said.

"Melania Trump thinks about everything she does, and she thinks about it for a very long time," she continued. "She does things very strategically."

"She knew full well that walking out there into the White House residence, behind that podium like that, would make absolute waves," she added.