Fox News’ Brooke Singman reported Wednesday that first lady Melania Trump has issued a $1 billion legal notice to Hunter Biden, alleging “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” from a video interview in which he claimed that sex offender Jeffrey Epstein “introduced Melania to [President Donald] Trump”—and that their “connections are, like, so wide and deep.”
Newsweek reached out to Biden’s lawyer for comment via email on Wednesday.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has been roiled by renewed scrutiny of Epstein, the disgraced financier, since the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last month that it would not release any additional information related to its investigation of his prison death in 2019, which was ruled a suicide.
The announcement from Trump’s DOJ flew in the face of promises from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other high-ranking administration officials who said they would release the so-called “Epstein files” in their entirety after Trump took office.
The DOJ made the decision not to release the Epstein documents after Bondi told Trump that his name appeared in the files, The Wall Street Journal reported. The president has denied the report. Several other news outlets have since covered the nature of Trump’s relationship with Epstein.
Hunter Biden jumped into the fray earlier this month, saying that it was “beyond a doubt” that the president and Epstein were “very close friends” and that the sex offender introduced Trump to the future first lady in the late 1990s.
What To Know
The legal notice from the first lady to Biden was obtained by Fox News Digital. According to the report, Melania Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, sent the letter to Biden and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, on August 6.
Per Fox News, the first lady is demanding that Hunter Biden immediately retract his statements about Epstein and issue a public apology. If he doesn’t, the former first son will face legal action as Melania Trump seeks to recover damages for “overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”
Hunter Biden discussed the Trumps and Epstein earlier this month during an interview on Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan. He cited a Daily Beast article that was based on claims from Trump biographer Michael Wolff. The Beast retracted that story after receiving a letter from Melania Trump’s lawyer challenging the headline and framing of the article.
The first lady’s legal notice to Hunter Biden says Wolff’s “false narrative” was the source of the former first son’s allegations and added that if Biden did not retract his statements and issue an apology, she would take further legal action.
“They spent an enormous amount of time together,” Biden said of 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.”
What They’re Saying
Brito wrote in his notice to Hunter Biden and his attorney: “These false, disparaging, defamatory, and inflammatory statements are extremely salacious and have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums. 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.”
He added: “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.”
What Happens Next
“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 comply with the August 7 deadline.
Update 8/13/25, 7:55 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and context.
