MS NOW's Joe Scarborough expressed confusion about Melania Trump's rare public appearance on Thursday.
Scarborough, 63, called the timing of the First Lady's announcement 'strange' and questioned its message to start Friday's Morning Joe.
Melania, 55, used the news spot to try and distance herself from late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Scarborough called 'the idea that [Melania] did not know' and 'had no relation' with Epstein 'beyond bizarre.'
'Secondly, that she would actually pretend that she didn't know who he was,' he added.
A clip of the first lady insisting that she and husband Donald only attended the same parties as Epstein 'from time to time' followed.
During her announcement, Melania also maintained that a 2002 message to Ghislaine Maxwell - Epstein's only convicted accomplice - 'cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence' in the footage.
Scarborough wondered whether there was some revelation coming, and why the first lady was 'bringing up something that obviously the president doesn't want brought up.'
Joe Scarborough, 63, and cohost Mika Brzezinski questioned the timing of Melania's sudden announcement as well as its message on Friday's Morning Joe
Melania used the spot to try and distance herself from late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, maintaining they merely 'overlapp[ed] in social circles'
The president has faced pressure to release all files and communications related to Epstein.
The administration's handling of the case has been largely eclipsed by news on the Iran war, which reached its 42nd day on Friday.
Melania, meanwhile, used her address to direct attention to the plight of Epstein's victims.
'We still must work openly and transparently to uncover the truth,' she said, calling on Congress to hold a public hearing for victims to testify about their experience under oath.
'That's just the opposite of what the president has been talking about for months now,' Scarborough noted.
Scarborough pointed out how 'a few hours' after Melania's remarks, the president went on a social media posting spree against MAGA influencers who have broke with him over his military operations in Iran.
Trump singled out Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones, as 'stupid people' and 'NUT JOBS' in the Truth Social barrage.
'Alex Korson, our EP, said it was like War and Peace - without the peace,' Scarborough joked.
'That's just the opposite of what the president has been talking about for months now,' Scarborough noted after more than a month of headlines dominated by the Iran war.
Reporter Jacqueline Alemany told Scarborough and cohost Mika Brzezinski that Trump told her he 'didn't know anything' about the speech's contents beforehand.
He added that '[Melania] didn't know [Epstein]' before hanging up.
White House staffers were also blindsided by the speech, Alemany also said, citing White House officials.
Fox News reported White House reporters were also given 'no heads up' about the contents of the speech, which was scheduled beforehand.
The first lady's denial, meanwhile, comes a day after the Justice Department announced that former Attorney General Pam Bondi would not appear for a subpoena before the House Oversight Committee on April 14.
The subpoena addressed her handling of the DOJ documents about Epstein, following fierce bipartisan backlash.
Rep. James Comer, the Republican Chair of the Oversight Committee, issued the subpoena after joining Democrats in pledging to investigate the DOJ for its handling of files related to President Trump missing from recent administration releases.
The DOJ told the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday its subpoena for a closed-door deposition with Bondi was moot because it sought Bondi's testimony in an 'official capacity as Attorney General'.
She was removed from office last week. Comer has yet to withdraw the subpoena.