President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he supports first lady Melania Trump’s decision to pursue a $1 billion defamation claim against Hunter Biden.
In a recent video interview posted to YouTube, Hunter Biden — son of former President Joe Biden — alleged that Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania to Donald Trump. Her legal team strongly rejected the claim, calling it “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory.”
A letter dated August 6 demanded a full retraction and apology from Biden or face a $1 billion lawsuit.
Speaking with Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade, Trump confirmed his backing. “Well, I said go forward. I’ve done pretty well in these lawsuits lately,” he said.
The president added: “Jeffrey Epstein has nothing to do with Melania and introducing. But they do that to demean, they make up stories.”
Trump clarified that the couple did meet through another person, but “it wasn’t Jeffrey Epstein.” He continued: “Yeah, I told her let’s go ahead and do it. I’d let her use my lawyers. She was very upset about it.”
Why It Matters
The Trump administration continues to face scrutiny over issues tied to Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Last month, the Department of Justice announced it would not release additional records related to Epstein and insisted there was no incriminating “client list” of alleged co-conspirators.
That decision prompted backlash among Trump supporters, many of whom expected the files to be made public.
What To Know
Melania Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, said Biden’s comments quickly spread across social media and news outlets, causing her to suffer “overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”
During his interview with journalist Andrew Callaghan, Biden said: “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep.” He attributed the claim to author Michael Wolff.
President Trump previously dismissed Wolff on Truth Social, calling him a “Third Rate Reporter.”
Both the president and first lady maintain they were introduced by modeling agent Paolo Zampolli at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998.
Biden responded to the legal threat in a separate Callaghan interview, saying: “F*** that, that’s not going to happen.”
What People Are Saying
Hunter Biden argued the potential lawsuit is politically motivated:
“I don’t think that these threats of a lawsuit add up to anything other than a designed distraction because it’s not about who introduced whom to who. I don’t know how that, in any way, rises to the level of defamation to begin with.”
Attorney Alejandro Brito countered in his notice to Biden and his legal team:
“These false, disparaging, defamatory, and inflammatory statements are extremely salacious and have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums. Indeed, the video has since been republished by various media outlets, journalists, and political commentators with millions of social media followers that have disseminated the false and defamatory statements therein to tens of millions of people worldwide.”
What Happens Next
If no retraction is issued, Hunter Biden could face a lawsuit seeking damages of more than $1 billion.
