Author Michael Wolff has filed a lawsuit against First Lady Melania Trump after she issued legal threats when he refused to retract statements linking her to convicted and controversial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He's also accused both the First Lady and President Trump of "threatening those who speak against them."
Michael Wolff on suing Melania Trump: “To be perfectly honest, I’d like nothing better than to get Donald Trump and Melania Trump under oath and actually find out all of the details of their relationship with Epstein.” pic.twitter.com/iwPlXlpucl
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) October 22, 2025
The Daily Beast originally published an interview with Wolff in early 2025, which it then promptly took down in July, stating that it had failed to meet editorial standards. Melania Trump’s attorney later issued a legal challenge, taking issue with what they described as “the headline and framing” of the podcast episode
Wolff, in opposition to the legal threat issued by the First Lady, argued that President Trump and his wife sought to punish their foes by trying "to silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally, and to extract unjustified payments and North Korean-style confessions and apologies." He also claimed that the legal threats "are designed to create a climate of fear in the nation so that people cannot freely or confidently exercise their First Amendment rights."
Wolff's lawsuit was filed on the deadline issued by Trump's lawyers to retract his statements.
In the podcast episode, Wolff said that "[Melania] was very involved in this Epstein relationship. There is this model thing, and she’s introduced by a model agent, both of whom Trump and Epstein are involved with. She’s introduced to Trump that way, Epstein knows her well."
Nicholas Clemens, a spokesperson for the Office of the First Lady, stated in a press release immediately following Melania's legal challenge, "First Lady Melania Trump is proud to continue standing up to those who spread malicious and defamatory falsehoods as they desperately try to get undeserved attention and money from their unlawful conduct."