US First Lady Melania Trump demands Hunter Biden retract ‘salacious' statements on Epstein
Trump takes issue with two comments Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, made in an interview this month with British journalist Andrew Callaghan. He alleged that Epstein introduced the first lady to now-President Donald Trump.
The statements are false, defamatory and 'extremely salacious,' Melania Trump's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, wrote in a letter to Biden.
Biden's remarks were widely disseminated on social media and reported by media outlets around the world, causing the first lady 'to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm,' he wrote.
Biden made the Epstein comments during a sprawling interview in which he lashed out at 'elites' and others in the Democratic Party he says undermined his father before he dropped out of last year's presidential campaign.
'Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep,' Biden said in one of the comments Trump disputes. Biden attributed the claim to author Michael Wolff, whom Trump disparaged in June as a 'Third Rate Reporter.' He has accused Wolff of making up stories to sell books.
The first lady's threats echo a favored strategy of her husband, who has aggressively used litigation to go after critics. Public figures like the Trumps face a high bar to succeed in a defamation lawsuit.
The president and first lady have long said they were introduced by Paolo Zampolli, a modeling agent, at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998.
The letter is dated Aug. 6 and was first reported Wednesday by Fox News Digital.
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer who has represented Biden in his criminal cases and to whom Brito's letter is addressed, did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Wednesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
an hour ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Thieves Grab $2 Million in Jewelry in Seattle Heist that Took Less Than 2 Minutes
Smash-and-grab thieves in Seattle made off with an estimated $2 million in diamonds, luxury watches, gold and other items in a daring midday jewelry store robbery that took just about 90 seconds, police said Friday. Video from the West Seattle store's surveillance cameras shows four masked suspects shattering the locked glass front door with hammers and then ransacking six display cases Thursday, The Associated Press reported. One display held around $750,000 worth in Rolex watches, police said in a statement, and another had an emerald necklace valued at $125,000. A masked suspect threatened workers with bear spray and a Taser, police said, but no one was injured. 'We're pretty shook up as a staff,' Josh Menashe, vice president of the family-owned store, said by phone Friday. 'We're gonna be closed for a while.' Menashe said workers finished cleaning up the broken glass and were working on a full inventory of the losses. Police said they responded to the robbery but the suspects had already fled in a getaway car and eluded a search of the area.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Zelenskyy says will meet Trump in Washington, ready for cooperation
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will head to Washington on Monday to discuss 'ending the killing and the war' with US President Donald Trump, he announced Saturday. Zelenskyy said so after holding a call with Trump, during which the US leader informed him about the 'main points' of his talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska. 'On Monday, I will meet with President Trump in Washington, D.C., to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war,' Zelenskyy said. 'I am grateful for the invitation.' Zelenskyy said he had a 'long and substantive conversation with Trump', which began as a one-on-one talk, before being joined by European leaders. The Washington meeting is set to take place three days after Trump's talks with Putin in Alaska ended with no ceasefire announcement or apparent breakthrough to end Moscow's more than three-year-long invasion. The day after the US-Russia summit, Zelenskyy called for Kyiv's European allies to be involved at 'every stage' of talks. The Ukrainian leader said that Kyiv is ready for constructive cooperation and supports trilateral meeting of leaders of US, Ukraine and Russia. 'Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace,' Zelenskyy said on X social network. 'We support President Trump's proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the USA, and Russia. Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this,' he added.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Ukraine's Zelensky to meet Trump after US-Russia summit yields no peace deal
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that he plans to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington next week after Trump's summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin secured no agreement to end the war in Ukraine. Zelensky said he held a 'long and substantive' conversation with Trump on Saturday after the US leader met Putin in Alaska. He thanked Trump for an invitation to meet in person in Washington on Monday and said they would 'discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.' Zelensky reiterated the importance of involving Europe. 'It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America,' he said. 'We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine's security.' Zelensky said he spoke to Trump one-on-one and then in a call with other European leaders. In total the conversations lasted an hour and a half. Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin in Alaska, but Friday's summit appeared to end without concrete progress on bringing an end to the war. Trump said that 'there's no deal until there's a deal,' after Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an 'understanding' on Ukraine and warned Europe not to 'torpedo the nascent progress.' During an interview with Fox News Channel before leaving Alaska, Trump insisted that the onus going forward might be on Zelensky 'to get it done,' but said there would also be some involvement from European nations. Trump did not speak to reporters on his flight back to Washington. When his plane landed, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump was on the phone with NATO leaders after a lengthy call with Zelensky. Trump then disembarked Air Force One without speaking to reporters. He didn't respond to shouted questions about the phone calls as he climbed into his limousine. Trump spoke with Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta said. She gave no details of the conversation. There was no immediate comment Saturday from European leaders who, like Zelensky, didn't have a place at the table at Friday's summit. Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said on Russian state television Saturday that a potential trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelensky has not been raised in US-Russia discussions. 'The topic has not been touched upon yet,' Ushakov said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Russian attacks on Ukraine continued overnight, using one ballistic missile and 85 Shahed drones, 61 of which were shot down, Ukraine's Air Force said. Front-line areas of Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Chernihiv were attacked.
