KEY POINTS
- Biden defended his remarks citing a report by biographer Michael Wolff and a 2019 New York Times article.
- Hunter Biden repeated a false claim, insisting that Epstein introduced Melania to Donald Trump, despite the allegation being retracted by the Daily Beast.
- Melania Trump's legal team claims the comments caused 'overwhelming financial and reputational harm'.
Hunter Biden has openly defied a $1 billion legal threat from US First Lady Melania Trump, refusing to retract comments in which he falsely claimed she was introduced to President Donald Trump by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a recent appearance on the Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan podcast, the son of former President Joe Biden repeated an allegation originally reported by the Daily Beast — and later retracted — that Epstein had played matchmaker between the then future president and the Slovenian model who would become his third wife.
'They knew each other well, they spent an enormous amount of time together', Biden said of Trump and Epstein. 'According to his biographer, Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania, that's how Melania ... the First Lady and the president met'.
When Callaghan showed Biden a copy of a legal letter from Melania Trump's lawyer demanding a retraction, the 55-year-old gave a blunt, expletive-laden response, 'F-ck that. That's not going to happen'.
Melania Trump's Account of Meeting Donald Trump
In her 2024 memoir Melania, the First Lady offered a different version of events. She wrote that she met Donald Trump at a Fashion Week party in New York in 1998, hosted by Italian businessman Paolo Zampolli. At the time, Trump had come with another date, but asked for her number. She refused to give it to him and instead took his, calling him days later.
'Our meeting was chance, not arranged', she wrote, stressing there had been no prior connection through Epstein or anyone else.
A Threat of Legal Action
The comments sparked immediate action from Melania Trump's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, who sent a letter to Biden and his attorney Abbe Lowell on 6 August. In it, Brito described the remarks as 'false, defamatory, and lewd', accusing Biden of leveraging her name for attention.
'Given your vast history of trading on the names of others—including your surname—for your personal benefit, it is obvious that you published these false and defamatory statements about Mrs Trump to draw attention to yourself,' Brito wrote in the letter, first reported by Fox News Digital.
Brito demanded that Biden issue 'a full and fair retraction' and 'an apology' by 7 August or face a lawsuit seeking $1 billion in damages.
Biden's Defiance
Biden, however, showed no sign of backing down. On the podcast, he defended his comments by pointing to Michael Wolff's reporting and a 2019 New York Times article that said Epstein had claimed to have introduced Trump to Melania.
He acknowledged that fighting such a case could be expensive, saying, 'If they want to go through the process, then they know it's going to cost them an enormous amount of money to do it. We gotta figure out how we're going to pay for it'.
Six days have passed since Brito's deadline without any public retraction from Biden.
Background on the Epstein Connection
Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, moved in elite social circles before his 2019 arrest and death in a New York jail. Donald Trump acknowledged knowing Epstein in the 1990s but has denied any involvement in his crimes. There is no verified evidence that Epstein introduced Trump to Melania.
The Stakes
Melania Trump's legal team argues the remarks have caused 'overwhelming financial and reputational harm', noting that the video has been republished widely by media outlets and political commentators.
'These false, disparaging, defamatory, and inflammatory statements are extremely salacious and have been widely disseminated', Brito wrote. 'You are on notice.'
It remains to be seen whether the First Lady will proceed with legal action or if the matter will be settled privately. For now, the dispute underscores the high-profile tensions between the Bidens and the Trumps — two families who have already clashed on the political stage, now sparring over an explosive claim about events more than two decades past.
