In her statement, the first lady elaborated that she only met Epstein for the first time in 2000, at a party she attended with her husband. At the time she was known as Melania Knauss. “I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings,” she said. “Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been calculating on social media for years now. Be cautious about what you believe.”

As my colleague Robert Mackey reported earlier this year, a trove of files released by the justice department from the federal investigation into Epstein includes a friendly email that was apparently sent to Maxwell in late October 2002, signed “Love, Melania”.

Although the email addresses of both the sender and the recipient are redacted, a second copy of the same email text also appears in another document released on Friday, which includes a reply from “G. Max”.

The first email, sent on the evening of 23 October 2002, with the subject line “HI!” begins “Dear G!”. The sender says there is a “nice story about JE in NY mag” before asking the recipient about their travels and to call them when they’re back in New York.

In their reply, “G. Max” wrote that while they are already on their way back to the city they will not have time to see the sender, but they would “try and call”.

The email exchange was sent the week that New York magazine published a flattering profile of Jeffrey Epstein that included a photograph of Maxwell with Epstein. While the article was in the 28 October 2002 edition, new issues of the magazine are published one week prior to the cover date.

While the redactions in the documents mean that there is no proof that the exchange was with the future first lady, in her statement today, Trump appeared to reference these emails, although it is unclear if she was definitely referring to this batch of communication.

“My email reply to Maxwell cannot be characterized as anything more than casual correspondence,” the first lady said. “My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note.”

Maxwell had socialized with the future Melania Trump in Palm Beach prior to the email exchange. Just over two weeks later, on 11 November 2002, they were photographed together in New York, along with Donald Trump and Naomi Campbell, at a Dolce & Gabbana event.

Just over two months later, in January 2003, Maxwell would present Epstein with a bound volume of 50th birthday greetings from friends and associates, including a crude drawing and enigmatic message in the name of Donald Trump.