Melania threatens Hunter with $1bn lawsuit over Epstein claim

US First Lady Melania Trump has threatened to sue former president Joe Biden's son Hunter with a USD 1 billion defamation suit for claiming that deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to President Donald Trump. Melania’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, has demanded that Hunter Biden “immediately retract the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” he made earlier this month during an interview on the YouTube show Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan. No official statement has yet been issued in connection with the matter, Fox News reported.

In the video titled Hunter Biden Returns, Hunter Biden said, "Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania, and that’s how Melania and the first lady and the President met.” He added, “The connections are, like, so wide and deep.” According to Fox News, Brito sent a letter to Hunter Biden and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, on August 6. The letter gave Biden an ultimatum: remove the content, issue a public apology, and retract the statements or face a potential USD 1 billion defamation lawsuit. "Failure to comply will leave Mrs Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to her to recover the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that you have caused her to suffer," Brito wrote.

Brito described Biden’s remarks as “false, disparaging, defamatory, and inflammatory,” adding that they were “extremely salacious and have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums.” He noted that the video has since been republished by multiple media outlets, journalists, and political commentators, spreading the claims to tens of millions worldwide. Brito further stated that Biden’s alleged “source” was “serial fabulist Michael Wolff,” whose claims were published by The Daily Beast in an article titled Melania Trump ‘very involved’ in the Epstein scandal.