People don't throw themselves into the Epstein fire unless they believe the flames are heading their way

Out of nowhere, Melania Trump voluntarily dragged herself into the toxic orbit of Jeffrey Epstein when absolutely nobody was even talking about her.

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

It was not just bizarre, it was politically explosive. America's First Lady took it upon herself to deny all knowledge of her husband Donald Trump's former good pal. To say she knew nothing of Epstein who the President once called a "terrific guy" and his crimes.

And to then support Epstein's victims in having their day before Congress.

Which makes her appearance all the more bonkers, given that ever since Trump bitterly vacated the White House after losing to Joe Biden, sightings of the First Lady have been rarer than those of a dodo.

She has been classed by Americans as either missing in action, kidnapped or has such a pathological dislike of the buffoon she married, she wants no part of his play pretend politics. Entire news cycles pass without a purr from the Slovenian Sphinx, as she is known.

No statements. No interventions. No political presence. She has not just kept a low profile; she has been practically invisible this whole time.

So when someone that absent suddenly reappears to address one of the most radioactive scandals in modern politics in a national address, it does not feel routine, it feels deliberate.

And more importantly, it feels timed.

No headlines were building. No fresh allegations were breaking.

The Epstein story had already been shoved off the front pages by Trump's Iran war and escalating tensions abroad.