Melania’s legal team issued Biden a letter, the BBC reports, demanding he retract the ‘false, disparaging, defamatory and inflammatory’ statement and apologize, or face a lawsuit of at least $1 billion.
The letter notes Biden’s claim was partially attributed to journalist Michael Wolff, who said in a since-deleted Daily Beast interview that Melania was ‘known’ to an associate of Epstein when she met Trump.
The outlet retracted the story after receiving a letter of their own from Melania’s attorneys.
On the archived version of the Daily Beast story is a correction that reads: “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.”
There’s no verified evidence that Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. In fact, Melania said she and her now-husband met at a 1998 modelling agency party.
Melania would’ve been around 28 years old, and Trump around 52.
The BBC asked Melania’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, about the legal threat. He referred the publication to a statement from her aide, Nick Clemens, which reads: “First Lady Melania Trump’s attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods.”
Epstein, a wealthy American financier, had built up a sprawling network of powerful connections before being exposed for the serial sex trafficking of underage girls. After a controversial 2008 plea deal, he was arrested again in July 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges; days later, he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell, officially ruled a suicide.
Conspiracy theories have swirled for years, with some suggesting Epstein had some form of ‘client list’ that implicated rich and powerful people in his sex ring.
Trump, as part of his 2024 presidential campaign, vowed to release court-protected documents on the case.
However, he and US Attorney General Pam Bondi appear to have pulled a U-turn, with the FBI denying that such a list even exists.
And while Trump and Epstein were formerly friends, the pair’s relationship soured after the financier began poaching his staff, according to Trump.
“He took people that work for me, and I told him, ‘Don’t do it any more’. And he did it. I said, ‘Stay the hell out of here’,” the POTUS told reporters.