U.S. First Lady Melania Trump has threatened to sue Hunter Biden for more than $1 billion over claims linking her introduction to Donald Trump with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a legal letter sent to Biden’s attorney, her lawyers described the allegation as “false, disparaging, defamatory and inflammatory,” demanding a public retraction and apology.
They warned that failure to comply could result in legal action seeking over $1bn in damages, citing “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” to the first lady.
The dispute stems from remarks Biden made during an interview with filmmaker Andrew Callaghan earlier this month, where he claimed that unreleased documents on Epstein would “implicate” President Trump and alleged that “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump.”
Melania’s legal team said the statement appeared to rely on a now-retracted article by journalist Michael Wolff, published in The Daily Beast.
The outlet later apologised after receiving a legal challenge from her attorney, stating it regretted “any confusion or misunderstanding.”
There is no evidence Epstein introduced the couple.
A 2016 Harper’s Bazaar profile reported that Melania met Trump at a party in November 1998 hosted by a modelling agency founder, and initially declined to give him her number because he was “with a date” at the time.
Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, had been acquainted with Donald Trump in the 1990s, but Trump has said their relationship ended in the early 2000s after Epstein allegedly poached employees from his Florida golf club spa.
The legal threat comes amid renewed public pressure on the White House to release the so-called “Epstein files.”
Although Trump pledged to make the documents public if re-elected, the FBI and Justice Department stated in July that there is no incriminating client list of Epstein’s associates.
