KEY POINTS
First Lady Melania Trump is threatening to sue Hunter Biden for more than $1 billion, demanding a retraction and an apology for his claim that she was introduced to President Donald Trump by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a legal letter, attorneys for the first lady called the allegation “false, disparaging, defamatory and inflammatory,” setting the stage for a high-stakes legal battle between two of the nation’s most prominent political families.
The controversy stems from an interview Hunter Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, gave to filmmaker Andrew Callaghan earlier this month. During the discussion, Biden asserted, “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump,” while criticizing President Trump’s former association with the disgraced financier. The claim quickly drew a sharp rebuke from the First Lady’s legal team.
The letter, addressed to Biden’s attorney, states that Melania Trump has suffered “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” due to the remark. It accuses Biden of having a “vast history of trading on the names of others” and of repeating the claim “to draw attention to yourself.”
The Disputed Origins of the Claim
In his interview, Hunter Biden appeared to source his information from a report by journalist Michael Wolff, who authored a critical biography of President Trump. The claim was featured in a story by the Daily Beast, which subsequently retracted the article after being contacted by Melania Trump’s lawyers.
The outlet issued an apology and removed the story. An archived version of the page now includes a note stating, “After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article. After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding.”
The First Lady’s legal team argues that Biden’s reliance on a retracted article underscores the baselessness of his allegation. There is no evidence to support the claim that Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, introduced the Trumps.
Background and Context
The widely reported account of the couple’s meeting differs significantly. A January 2016 profile in Harper’s Bazaar reported that Melania Trump met her future husband in November 1998 at a New York City party hosted by the founder of a modeling agency. At the time, Donald Trump had recently separated from his second wife, Marla Maples.
While President Trump was once friends with Epstein, he has stated that they had a falling out in the early 2000s. This legal threat, however, lands amid renewed public and political pressure for the release of documents related to Epstein’s network of associates, often referred to as the “Epstein files.”
Before his re-election, President Trump pledged to release the records if he returned to office. However, the FBI and the Department of Justice stated in July that no single, comprehensive “incriminating” client list of Epstein’s associates exists, complicating public expectations.
This legal confrontation injects a deeply personal and potentially costly conflict into the politically charged discourse surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. It underscores the continued volatility of the Epstein saga and its capacity to entangle major figures from both sides of the political aisle, long after his death.
