Melania Trump is furious. The first lady is demanding Hunter Biden take back his claim that she met Donald Trump through Jeffrey Epstein. She says it is a lie and warns she will sue if he does not stop.
In a letter sent by her lawyer Alejandro Brito, Melania Trump said the claim was “false, defamatory and extremely salacious.” She says it has hurt her name and her finances. “Overwhelming financial and reputational harm,” is how the lawyer put it.
The fight started after Hunter Biden appeared in an interview this month with American journalist Andrew Callaghan. Biden made two statements that Melania Trump now disputes. In one of them, Biden said, “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep.”
Biden said he got this from author Michael Wolff. That is the same Wolff Donald Trump once called a “Third Rate Reporter” and accused of making up stories to sell books.
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Biden’s interview was not just about Melania Trump. He went after what he called “elites” in the Democratic Party. He accused them of undermining his father before he dropped out of last year’s presidential race. But it is the part about Melania Trump that lit the fire.
The letter from Melania Trump’s lawyer was sent on August 6. It was first reported by Fox News Digital. The letter warns Hunter Biden to retract his comments or face legal action.
Melania Trump’s position is that she met Donald Trump through Paolo Zampolli, a modeling agent, at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998. The president and first lady have repeated that story for years. They say Epstein had nothing to do with it.
Threats of lawsuits are nothing new for the Trump family. Donald Trump has a long history of using the courts to go after people who criticize him. Melania Trump herself has sued before, including a case where she went after a news outlet for reporting she had worked as an escort. She won a settlement.
But public figures like Melania Trump face a very high bar when it comes to defamation. In the United States, the law says they must prove not only that the statement was false but that it was made with actual malice. That means showing the person knew it was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has not yet responded publicly to the letter.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
