As the scandal over Donald Trump’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein heated up this summer, Melania Trump focused on debunking one specific element: the unverified claim that the late sex offender had introduced Donald and Melania. Now, the First Lady’s quest to shut down the story has led to her threatening to sue Hunter Biden for $1 billion. On Thursday, Joe Biden’s son issued a counterthreat of sorts, saying he would welcome a lawsuit as it means the Trumps would be deposed on their relationship with Epstein.
When the years-old Epstein rumor resurfaced this summer, the First Lady initially denied it via subtweet. She posted an excerpt of her memoir that relayed the same “how we met” story the Trumps have been telling for years: They were introduced at a 1998 Fashion Week party hosted by Italian entrepreneur Paolo Zampolli. Shortly before Epstein died in prison in 2019, the New York Times reported he had been telling people that he actually introduced the Trumps. But the couple never mentioned Epstein playing a role, and Zampolli has repeatedly denied it.
After Trump biographer Michael Wolff discussed Epstein’s claim on The Daily Beast Podcast, Melania’s attorney got the outlet to retract and remove an article on its website summarizing Wolff’s appearance and to apologize “for any confusion or misunderstanding.” Democratic strategist James Carville did the same, publicly apologizing for comments he made in a YouTube clip on “The Epstein Connection — Trump & Melania,” taken from his own podcast.
On Wednesday evening, Fox News Digital revealed the First Lady’s attorneys have issued a similar demand to Hunter Biden. A letter from Trump’s lawyer Alejandro Brito threatened to sue the former First Son for “over $1 Billion Dollars in damages” if he did not retract statements he made in an interview about Melania’s connection to Epstein, which referenced Wolff’s claims. The letter highlighted two statements Biden made on the YouTube show Channel 5 With Andrew Callaghan in early August:
a. “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep.”
b. “Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania, that’s how Melania and the First Lady and the President met. Really? Epstein made the intro? Yeah, according to Michael Wolff.”
The letter described these statements as “false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory,” and said Biden must retract them by August 7, 2025, at 5 p.m. EST to avoid legal action.
Anyone who assumed Biden would quietly backtrack and apologize, if only to spare his family more Trump-related drama, has not been following the former First Son very closely. He gave a characteristically colorful response to the legal threat in a video posted by Channel 5 on Thursday morning.
“We’re here maybe to give you the platform to apologize to the First Lady for the statements you made about her possible connection to Jeffrey Epstein,” Callaghan said.
“Fuck that. That’s not going to happen,” Biden answered.
Melania Trump threatened Hunter Biden with a billion dollar lawsuit, demanding we retract our last interview and Hunter issue a formal apology. His response: pic.twitter.com/d4KYqxPcxz
— Channel 5 (@Channel5iveNews) August 14, 2025
In his full response, Biden said he was citing reports, primarily from Wolff, noting that Epstein claimed he’d introduced the Trumps.
Biden went on to accuse the Trumps of trying to distract from legitimate questions about their relationship with Epstein and almost dared Trump to sue him.
“I think they’re bullies and they think that a billion dollars is going to scare me,” Biden said. “If they want to sit down for a deposition and clarify the nature of the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein — if the president and the First Lady want to do that, and all of the known associates around them at the time, whatever time that they met, I’m more than happy to provide them the platform to be able to do it.”
So did Melania really think Biden would simply back down and apologize? Or did she have her team issue a legal threat precisely because they knew he would escalate? That’s a question for the “It’s a distraction!” folks on social media. But based on everything we know about Donald Trump and Hunter Biden, this isn’t the last we’ll hear about this lawsuit threat.