It was, and I don’t say this lightly, a jaw-dropping moment. 

I’m sitting here with the TV on and all of a sudden there’s a live shot of Melania Trump, reading a speech at the White House. 

A speech about Jeffrey Epstein. A speech about how she’s being smeared in connection with the late pedophile. 

None of the journalists knew what to say. The first lady, talking about Epstein. Reporters were told she would be making remarks, but not the subject matter. Only that it would be newsy.

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“I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, [Ghislaine] Maxwell. My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence. My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a travel note. I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998,” the first lady said in her speech.

There was pain in her voice. The three-minute speech, read in her accented English, was not easy for her. 

When the Epstein files were released, there was correspondence between Maxwell, who called her “Sweet pea,” and Melania signed hers “Love.” Hardly a big deal.

I didn’t know there were any rumors about Melania Trump and Epstein. It seemed clear that the first lady was trying to get out ahead of something — but what?

This had the feeling of the tip of an iceberg. 

They first crossed paths in 2000: “I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings. Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been calculating [circulating]on social media for years now. Be cautious about what you believe. These images and stories are completely false.”

Epstein pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in 2008 and served an absurdly light sentence of 13 months in Florida. And Donald Trump knew of his relationship with underage girls, having called Palm Beach authorities about it back in 2006. 

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Still, Melania said, “I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity. I was not a participant. Was never on Epstein’s plane and never visited his private island. I have never been legally accused or convinced [convicted] of a crime in connection with Epstein. Sex trafficking, abuse of minors and other repulsive behavior. The false smears about me from mean-spirited and politically motivated individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name, to gain financially and climb politically, must stop.”

She added that she and her lawyers “have fought these unfounded and baseless lies with success.”

The New York Times reaction: “It was not clear why she chose to speak out now, or to what reports she was referring.” 

NBC’s Garrett Haake tweeted that the speech was “breathing new life into the Epstein saga.”

By the way, it was not a news conference, as the Washington Post and other outlets kept calling it. She took no questions.

The first lady’s senior adviser, Marc Beckman, said in a statement noted by NBC that she is speaking out now because “enough is enough” and “the lies must stop.”

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Needless to say, this catapults the story right back into the media narrative — and at a time when it finally seemed to be fading as the country’s attention is riveted on the Iran war and the shaky ceasefire. 

Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said he agrees with the first lady and wants to “schedule a public hearing immediately.”

The Republican chairman, James Comer, who recently subpoenaed Hillary Clinton to testify about Epstein, canceled a scheduled deposition with Pam Bondi after she was fired as attorney general. 

When Bondi testified at a disastrous hearing, she spent her time attacking the Democrats and refused to turn around and look at the victims seated behind her. 

Todd Blanche, her likely successor and now acting attorney general, has said there is no need for DOJ to do anything further on Epstein. Blanche, who interviewed Epstein’s convicted enabler, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later transferred to a less restrictive prison, has also proclaimed his love for the president.

But the last thing Donald Trump wants is a renewed media spotlight on Epstein’s victims. 

So there is clearly some kind of distancing going on. 

What remains hazy is why Melania Trump decided to deliver this speech at the White House rather than, say, putting out a statement.

Is there an accusation, true or false, that she is trying to preempt? There is much we still don’t know. 

But like everyone else who was watching, or has since seen the clips, I view it as a stunning moment in an administration that serves them up with amazing regularity. 

A Washington state man was shot and killed by a neighbor after allegedly opening fire on two women during a domestic dispute that spilled into a nearby driveway, police said.

Officers with the Puyallup Police Department (PPD) responded around 9:10 a.m. April 2, when investigators allege 47-year-old Arnino Guanlao shot two adult female relatives after a family argument escalated outside the home.

A neighbor, who had been inside at the time, went outside and intervened, fatally shooting Guanlao, according to police.

One of the victims, 23-year-old Christiannel Lyle Macapagal Maningat, died at the scene. The second woman was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

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Authorities said the case remains under investigation, including a review of the neighbor’s use of force.

Washington law allows a person to use force to protect himself or others if he reasonably believes it is necessary, but deadly force is only justified when facing an immediate threat of serious injury or death.

“That’s under investigation as to exactly how the circumstances took place,” PPD Capt. Kevin Gill said during a press briefing.

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Witnesses described a chaotic scene as gunfire erupted in the neighborhood.

“There was a girl here who was face down, and she was still breathing a little and trying to move a little, but she wasn’t doing much. And then pretty quick a cop came on scene, and he and I pulled her out, turned her over and found her gunshot wound on her abdomen,” neighbor Michelle Weingarden-Bandes told FOX 13 Seattle.

“We are all not just in shock about what we saw, those of us who were out here this morning, but that this has happened in our neighborhood.”

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Investigators said the neighbor who shot the suspect is cooperating as detectives work to determine the circumstances of the use of force, according to FOX 13 Seattle.

Detectives are also working to determine what led to the dispute and are processing multiple sites linked to the incident, the outlet reported.

Residents reported hearing multiple gunshots during the incident.

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Law enforcement officials said detectives are continuing to interview witnesses, many of whom were left distraught by the violence.

Additional reporting by Law & Crime identified Guanlao as the victims’ stepfather and said he had been firing at his adult stepdaughters when the neighbor intervened.

Authorities have not said what sparked the initial dispute.

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The PPD said detectives with its Criminal Investigations Division, along with the Metro Cities Crime Response Unit, are continuing to investigate the incident.

Fox News Digital has reached out to police for additional information.

The violence has left the victims’ family reeling.

A GoFundMe created for the family says the victims’ mother is now caring for her surviving daughters while grieving the loss of one child and remaining at the bedside of another who is still hospitalized.

The fundraiser, which has raised nearly $19,000, says the family’s lives “changed in a matter of moments” and describes the emotional toll on the two other daughters now coping with the aftermath of the violence.

Organizers said the funds will help cover funeral costs, medical expenses and basic living needs as the family navigates the aftermath of the shooting.

A New York City man is facing murder charges after allegedly randomly setting a fire in a Queens apartment building that killed four people, including a 3-year-old girl, and injured seven others, authorities announced.

Roman Amatitla, 38, of Maspeth, was arrested Wednesday and arraigned on multiple charges, including eight counts of second-degree murder and first-degree arson, for the March 16 blaze at a three-story building in Flushing. 

He faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz called the incident an “act of mass murder,” noting Amatitla’s chilling lack of motive.

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“Shockingly, the defendant had no known connection to the building or any of its occupants and selected the building at random,” Katz wrote in a statement.

According to prosecutors, Amatitla entered and exited the Avery Avenue building multiple times late that morning, at one point urinating in front of the apartments. 

He then went to a nearby gas station, where he bought a beer, stole a second one and took a pack of matches after refusing to pay for a lighter, authorities allege.

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He then entered the apartment building for a fourth and final time, authorities said, allegedly lighting a piece of paper on fire and tossing it onto trash near a stairwell. 

As smoke engulfed the street, he stayed in the immediate area to watch the building burn.

During a court hearing Thursday, Queens Assistant District Attorney Gabriel Reale said Amatitla “watched as people jumped from various windows, some of them living, one of them dying” while sipping on a beer, according to a report from the New York Post.

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Three of the people killed in the blaze, identified as Sihan Yang, 3, Chengri Cui, 49, and Chie Shin Ming, 61, were found in the building and pronounced dead from smoke inhalation. 

A fourth victim, Hong Zhao, 64, died at a hospital after suffering multiple broken bones and brain trauma when he leaped from a window to escape the flames.

Among those injured were a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) lieutenant and a firefighter who plunged into the basement when a staircase collapsed during rescue operations, resulting in thermal burns and smoke inhalation.

Four other occupants were injured jumping from the building to flee the fire, while a fifth was rescued from a second-story window by firefighters.

Prosecutors said Amatitla “had to get his rage out on someone or something,” though no official motive has been released.

New York City Police Department records note he is from Mexico, though his immigration status has not been confirmed.

The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.

Amatitla was ordered to remain in custody by Criminal Court Judge Thomas Wright-Fernandez and is scheduled to return to court April 13.