A new book about Prince Andrew has removed the claim that Jeffrey Epstein introduced President Donald Trump to his wife, first lady Melania Trump.
The first 60,000 copies of Andrew Lownie’s Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, released on Aug. 14, included the allegation.
During Hunter Biden’s Aug. 5 interview with Andrew Callaghan on YouTube, Biden repeated biographer Michael Wolff’s claim that Epstein was responsible for introducing the president to his third wife.
Entitled originally made a similar assertion, but future print editions, the e-book, and the audiobook have been updated to remove it.
A HarperCollins UK spokesperson told The Telegraph that the passages were removed following discussions with the publisher and Lownie, 64. The representative confirmed that while the book is published in the U.K. by HarperCollins, it is self-published in the U.S.
Lownie and HarperCollins’ decision comes after reports that Melania’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, sent a letter to Biden on Aug. 6 demanding a full retraction of the interview. The first lady, 55, and Brito requested that Biden, 55, “immediately retract the false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements made about Mrs. Trump.”
“Indeed, the video has since been re-published 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,” Brito continued.
If Biden failed to comply, Melania planned to sue for $1 billion to “recover the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that you have caused her to suffer,” with a deadline of Aug. 7 to issue a retraction and apology.
Shortly after, President Trump, 79, told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Aug. 12 that he encouraged Melania to take action.
“I told her, ‘Let’s go ahead and do it,’ ” he said, adding, “I let her use my lawyers.”
“Jeffrey Epstein had nothing to do with Melania and introducing,” the president added. “It was another person actually… but it wasn’t Jeffrey Epstein.”
Days later, on Aug. 14, Biden returned to Callaghan’s show and dismissed the demands, saying, “F— that. That’s not gonna happen.” He again cited Wolff, who allegedly made the same claim. In July, Wolff was cited by the Daily Beast in a story titled “Melania Trump ‘very involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author.” After legal threats, the outlet deleted the story.
Political analyst James Carville also issued an apology to the first lady after making similar claims on his Aug. 7 podcast and receiving communication from Melania’s lawyers.
The Trump administration is under pressure to release files related to Epstein, a financier and convicted sex offender linked to the president for many years. Trump has acknowledged a falling out with Epstein in the mid-2000s, shortly before Epstein died by suicide in 2019.
Epstein’s name appeared seven times in flight logs released earlier this year by Attorney General Pam Bondi. However, his presence on the plane does not necessarily indicate wrongdoing, as many individuals listed could have traveled for legitimate reasons.
In early July, the FBI and Department of Justice released a joint memo stating their investigation into Epstein’s alleged crimes and subsequent death was complete. The memo also confirmed that the rumored “client list” associated with Epstein did not exist.
