It was an unusual sight, the First Lady of the United States striding up to a lectern with the presidential seal affixed, the scene oddly reminiscent of the president mere days before. Melania Trump, The Donald’s fraught third attempt at monogamy, then gave a speech denying her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and his “accomplice,” Ghislaine Maxell.

Perhaps there was someone, somewhere, pointing a crooked finger at Melania, but if so, it eluded most of us. So why doth she protest too much?

Mrs. Trump’s name appeared in the Epstein files, too — another matter she evidently wanted to clear up on Thursday. In a 2002 email written to Ghislaine Maxwell, a woman named “Melania” wrote to Ms. Maxwell to praise a profile of Mr. Epstein in New York magazine. Ms. Maxwell called the woman “sweet pea,” and the woman signed her email “Love.”

On Thursday, the first lady addressed her correspondence with Ms. Maxwell: “To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice Maxwell. My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence.”

The email opened with “Dear G,” reflecting a familiarity that paled in comparison to “sweet pea.” The letter concluded with “Love,” usually reserved for more than casual correspondence. And then there were the photographs of Melania Knauss, present in the United States on a tourist visa who was working as a model and trophy for Trump. He does so love trophies.

Still, being in a photographs with Epstein and Maxwell, even if a bit disheveled and tipsy-looking, is hardly significant. No doubt they crossed paths, particularly given the fact that Trump was Epstein’s best friend and both were relegated to the parties of the nouveau riche, as is de rigueur for the vulgar and criminal.

“I was never on Epstein’s plane,” she insisted, “and never visited his private island.”

Did anyone say she was? After all, to be on Epstein’s plane, or visit Epstein’s island is quite damning, and if she wasn’t, then it would certainly be important to point that out.

The same cannot be said for her husband, whose name appeared on the flight logs for Mr. Epstein’s plane several times, or for the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, who acknowledged in a Senate hearing earlier this year that he’d traveled to Mr. Epstein’s island (after having lied about ending any relationship with Epstein).

Surely, there was a reason why the president wanted his wife to take the long walk up to the microphones and proclaim her noninvolvement.

A spokesperson for Mrs. Trump said the president knew that the first lady planned to make a statement, but later said it was not clear if Mr. Trump was aware of the topic of her remarks. In a phone call with an MS Now reporter, Mr. Trump said he had no prior knowledge of what she had planned to say.

The White House did not respond to questions about what the president knew on the matter and when.

Did Melania decide to take this action on her own, without either the knowledge or approval of her husband, the president?

And then she turned on her stiletto heels and stalked out as the dazed reporters started shouting after her: “Why now!? Why now!?”

Why now, indeed. After a documentary directed toward an audience of vapid foot fetishists, and a war that has not gone well for Trump, was this an attempt by a faithful wife to distract attention from the massive strategic failure in Iran by pointing back at Trump’s involvement in the Epstein scandal, poorly buried by the now-defenestrated Pam Bondi?

Or was it finally payback from a wife scorned with a stormy encounter. No one was arguing that Melania Trump was compromised by Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct, and yet here we are, with Melania in the middle of this sordid mess when there was no reason for her to do this.