 "The letter is dated August 6 and was first reported on Wednesday. Reuters/File Photo")
US First Lady Melania Trump has warned that she will sue Hunter Biden for more than $1 billion over his comments linking her to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
She has asked the former first son to withdraw his statements about Epstein and make a public apology. If he refuses, she plans to take legal action to seek damages for what she describes as “overwhelming financial and reputational harm”.
Notably, the Donald Trump administration has recently faced renewed attention over Epstein after the Department of Justice said last month it would not share more details from its investigation into his prison death in 2019, which was ruled a suicide.
ALSO READ | Why did Trump and Jeffrey Epstein really fall out?
In this explainer, we look at Melania’s notice to Hunter Biden and the controversy surrounding the case.
Let’s find out:
Inside Melania Trump’s $1 billion notice to Hunter Biden
Melania Trump’s lawyer has demanded that Hunter Biden “immediately retract the false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” he made about the First Lady in an interview earlier this month on the YouTube show “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan.”
“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,” Florida-based lawyer Alejandro Brito wrote in his letter to Hunter and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, Fox News reported.
Notably, Hunter Biden claimed it was “beyond a doubt” that the president and Jeffrey Epstein were “very close friends” and that the sex offender introduced Trump to the future First Lady in the late 1990s.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHe referred to a Daily Beast article based on claims from Trump biographer Michael Wolff. The Daily Beast later removed the story after receiving a letter from Melania Trump’s lawyer challenging its headline and framing.
The First Lady’s legal notice says Wolff’s “false narrative” was the basis for Hunter Biden’s remarks and added that if he did not withdraw his statements and issue an apology, she would take further legal action.
“They spent an enormous amount of time together,” Hunter Biden said about the president and Epstein in his interview with Callaghan. “That’s how Melania, and the First Lady and the president met. Yeah, according to Michael Wolff.”
Notably, the US President and First Lady have long said that they met through Paolo Zampolli, a modelling agent, at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998.
The letter is dated August 6 and was first reported on Wednesday.
What happens next?
The notice required Joe Biden’s son to meet its conditions by August 7.
“If you do not comply with the above by August 7, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. EST, Mrs. Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce her legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for over $1 Billion Dollars in damages,” Brito wrote. “You are on notice.”
A source familiar with the matter told Fox News that Biden did not meet the August 7 deadline.
The Epstein files
The legal notice follows weeks of calls for the White House to release the so-called Epstein files , which are previously unreleased records connected to the criminal investigation into the convicted paedophile.
Epstein was charged in 2019 with sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York. He died in prison while awaiting trial.
Although his death was officially ruled a suicide, the circumstances have fuelled speculation and conspiracy theories.
A Justice Department memo said no additional documents related to the case would be made public. The decision drew sharp criticism from some Trump supporters who had expected full disclosure under the current administration.
Trump has also filed a $10 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over a story about a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump’s name, which was included in a 2003 album made for Epstein’s birthday.
With inputs from agencies