Will Melania Trump’s Legal Gambit Pay Off or Backfire?

Melania Trump is threatening to sue Hunter Biden for more than $1 billion if he does not withdraw comments linking her to disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, alleged in a recent interview that Epstein introduced Melania to Donald Trump. 

“Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep,” he claimed earlier this month.

Trump’s legal team swiftly responded, labeling the remarks “false, defamatory and extremely salacious” in a letter dated Aug. 6 and first reported by Fox News Digital. The letter, sent to Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell, said the former first lady had suffered “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” as the claims spread across social media and were picked up by global media outlets.

The Trumps have previously stated they met through modeling agent Paolo Zampolli at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998.

Biden Stands By Remarks

Rather than retract the comments, Biden doubled down in a follow-up interview with the same YouTube outlet, Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, which was posted under the title “Hunter Biden Apology.” Asked if he would apologize to Melania Trump, Biden replied, “F*** that – that’s not going to happen,” adding that he viewed the legal threats as “designed distraction.”

Biden attributed his initial claim to author Michael Wolff, who Donald Trump has accused of fabricating stories to sell books and dismissed by the former president as a “third-rate reporter.”

High Legal Bar for Defamation

Legal experts note that public figures such as the Trumps face a high threshold in defamation cases, requiring proof that false statements were made with actual malice. Melania Trump’s threat mirrors a strategy her husband has used frequently — leveraging lawsuits to target critics.

The dispute comes amid renewed public interest in Epstein’s connections to prominent figures. Pressure on the White House to release the so-called “Epstein files” has intensified in recent weeks, though the U.S. Justice Department said in July it would not make the documents public. 

Officials stated a review found “no incriminating ‘client list’” and “no credible evidence” Epstein blackmailed famous men. Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.