WASHINGTON — First Lady Melania Trump has threatened to sue Hunter Biden for more than $1 billion, accusing him of making a “false, disparaging, defamatory and inflammatory” claim that she was introduced to Donald Trump by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The extraordinary legal move comes after Biden — son of former President Joe Biden — made the allegation in a wide-ranging interview earlier this month, while sharply criticizing Trump’s past ties to Epstein.
“Epstein introduced Melania to Trump — the connections are so wide and deep,” Biden said during the interview with filmmaker Andrew Callaghan, adding that unreleased documents about Epstein would “implicate” the former president.
Trump has admitted to knowing Epstein but claims their friendship ended in the early 2000s after Epstein poached staff from the spa at Trump’s Florida golf club.
A Billion-Dollar Threat
In a legal letter obtained by BBC News, Melania’s attorneys demand that Biden retract the claim and issue a public apology — or face a lawsuit seeking damages “over $1 billion.”
The letter argues that the first lady has suffered “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” and accuses Biden of repeating the allegation to “draw attention to yourself” despite “a vast history of trading on the names of others.”
The claim, her lawyers say, relies on a since-removed Daily Beast article that attributed the allegation in part to journalist Michael Wolff. The Beast retracted the piece after receiving a letter from Melania’s legal team challenging its accuracy and framing.
A statement from her aide, Nick Clemens, doubled down: “First Lady Melania Trump’s attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods.”
No Evidence — But Big Implications
There is no evidence that Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. A 2016 Harper’s Bazaar profile reported that the two met in November 1998 at a party hosted by a modeling agency founder, not through Epstein. Melania recalled refusing to give Trump her phone number that night because “he was with a date.”
Still, the allegation comes at a politically sensitive moment for the White House.
For weeks, Trump has faced mounting pressure to release the so-called “Epstein files” — previously undisclosed records tied to the criminal investigation of the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
The Epstein Files Controversy
Before his re-election, Trump vowed that if he returned to office, he would make the Epstein records public. But in July, the FBI and Justice Department announced that no “incriminating” client list of Epstein associates existed, sparking skepticism and renewed calls for transparency from political opponents and victims’ advocates.
Biden’s incendiary claim — and Melania’s billion-dollar counterattack — now risk turning the simmering Epstein files controversy into a full-blown political firestorm.
The BBC has reached out to Hunter Biden’s legal team for comment.
