Ambassador Paolo Zampolli said Thursday that he's ready to testify before Congress to prove that he was the individual who introduced President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
Zampolli made the pronouncement in a phone interview with the Daily Mail after the First Lady made a stunning statement in the White House on serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein - an announcement that apparently even took the President by surprise.
Among the comments she made, the First Lady denied rumors that it was Epstein who introduced Melania to her future husband.
'I'm ready to testify in Congress, in front of Congress, to say who introduced the First Lady, and I'm ready to even bring another 50 witnesses to say they were present that night,' the Italian-American diplomat said in an interview with the Daily Mail. 'The whole world knows this. This is old news.'
The first couple, as the story goes, met at a New York Fashion Week party in September 1998 held at the Kit Kat Club and hosted by Zampolli, who at the time was a modeling agent.
Asked about what prompted the First Lady's shock statement, Zampolli said he believed Melania earnestly feels for Epstein's many victims.
'I'm sure she cares about the victims and everybody that has been a victim has a right to expose this animal,' Zampolli told the Daily Mail. 'I think the First Lady has the biggest heart in the world, she's a family woman, and she's our marvelous First Lady,' he added.
Marc Beckman, senior adviser to the First Lady, told the Daily Mail that Melania spoke out because 'enough is enough' and 'the lies must stop.'
The timing raised eyebrows. Iran war coverage has largely drowned out the Epstein story, save for an ongoing battle on Capitol Hill over whether former Attorney General Pam Bondi must still sit for an Epstein-related deposition.
Even President Trump professed ignorance, telling MSNOW he didn't 'know anything about' Melania's plans to address Epstein.
The First Lady's office had sent a press release to the media on Wednesday announcing she planned to make remarks - but gave no hint of the subject.
In a brief statement, during which she ignored reporters' shouted questions, Melania made clear she was neither 'friends' with Epstein nor a 'victim' of the pedophile.
'I honestly think, deep in her heart, she cares about the victims,' Zampolli said. 'I know she's not a victim. We know that.'
'They met randomly, they met socially - everybody knew Epstein,' he added. 'I'm in the files, you know?'
The New York Times confirmed that Zampolli's name appeared in the Epstein files, in a story alleging the ambassador - who serves as Trump's Special Envoy for Global Partnership - had outed his ex-girlfriend for being in the country illegally.
'At no time did I request any favors from my colleagues,' he told the Daily Mail, denying he had used his close ties to the President to have his ex, Brazilian model Amanda Ungaro, deported.
'My inquiries were solely aimed at understanding the situation, and any advice I sought was strictly in relation to my son's safety,' he added in an interview last month.
The Times also reported that both Zampolli and Ungaro knew Epstein, and that Epstein and Zampolli had discussed buying a modelling agency together - though in a 2011 email to an Emirati businessman, Epstein sounded a sharply different note: 'Be careful, [Zampolli] is trouble. Lots. He sells stories to the press.'
In a phone call on Thursday, Zampolli dismissed any suggestion that his fraught relationship with Ungaro had prompted the First Lady's statement.
'There's no way. This is the First Lady of the United States. Do you think she cares about my ex?' he said.
Since her deportation, Ungaro has spoken out in Brazilian media about flying in 2002, aged 17, on Epstein's private jet, the Lolita Express - and how uncomfortable the experience was.
'All I wanted was to get off that plane. I knew something was wrong - I just didn't know what,' she told O Globo. 'At the time, it never crossed my mind that it could involve abuse.'
Ungaro has not suggested Epstein shared a close relationship with the Trumps.
