US First Lady Melania Trump has threatened to sue Hunter Biden for more than $1bn after he alleged she was introduced to her husband by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Lawyers representing Mrs Trump, who married Donald Trump in 2005, described the allegation as “false, disparaging, defamatory and inflammatory”. In a legal letter to Biden’s attorney, they demand a retraction and public apology, claiming the statement has caused her “overwhelming financial and reputational harm”.
The claim was made earlier this month during an interview between Biden and filmmaker Andrew Callaghan, in which Biden also suggested unreleased documents linked to Epstein would “implicate” President Trump. He said: “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump – the connections are so wide and deep.”
Mrs Trump’s legal team argues that Biden relied on a since-removed Daily Beast article, itself based partly on claims by journalist Michael Wolff, who has written critically about the president. The outlet later retracted the story after receiving a legal challenge from the First Lady’s lawyer, stating it apologised “for any confusion or misunderstanding”.
There is no evidence that Mrs Trump and Donald Trump were introduced by Epstein. A January 2016 Harper’s Bazaar profile reported the couple met in November 1998 at a party hosted by a modelling agency founder, with Mrs Trump declining to give Trump her number at the time because he was “with a date”.
Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking offences, had known Donald Trump socially in the 1990s, but the former president has said they fell out in the early 2000s over a business dispute.
The legal threat comes amid renewed calls for the release of so-called Epstein files previously undisclosed documents from the criminal investigation. President Trump has pledged to release the records during his second term, although the FBI and Department of Justice said in July that no incriminating client list exists.
Hunter Biden has not yet responded publicly to the legal demand.