The first lady is taking legal action against those who have helped spread a disputed claim that Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to her husband

The already tense relationship between America’s most high-profile political families has erupted into open confrontation,

as First Lady Melania Trump threatens to sue Hunter Biden for \$1 billion over a disputed claim linking her to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — and Hunter has responded with a sharp, unapologetic “F— that.”

The conflict began earlier this month when Hunter Biden, 55, appeared in a YouTube interview with journalist Andrew Callaghan, posted August 5.

In the conversation, Biden repeated a claim made by Trump biographer Michael Wolff that it was Epstein who first introduced Donald Trump to Melania in the late 1990s.

The allegation has circulated in certain political and media circles since at least 2019, though it remains publicly unverified.

Melania Trump, 55, quickly moved to push back. On August 6, her attorney Alejandro Brito sent a formal letter to Biden, demanding a full retraction of the statement and an apology.

“These false, disparaging, defamatory, and inflammatory statements are extremely salacious and have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums,” Brito wrote, noting the claim had been repeated by multiple media outlets and commentators, reaching “tens of millions” of people worldwide.

The letter set a deadline of August 7 for Biden to comply, warning that if he refused, the First Lady would pursue legal action for \$1 billion in damages, citing the “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” she says the comments have caused.

The letter also demanded Biden apologize for what it described as “false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading, and inflammatory statements” and retract the interview in its entirety.

But Biden’s response, delivered in another Callaghan video posted August 14, was immediate and defiant. “F— that. That’s not gonna happen,” he said when asked if he would apologize.

He then doubled down, citing multiple past reports, including Wolff’s work, that made similar assertions about Epstein’s connections to the Trumps.

“I don’t think these threats of a lawsuit add up to anything other than a distraction because it’s not about who introduced whom to whom,” Biden said. “I don’t know how that, in any way, rises to the level of defamation to begin with.”

Biden went further, framing the issue within the broader context of Epstein’s crimes. “This is about hundreds, if not thousands, of minors, children, who were raped by Jeffrey Epstein,” he stated.

While clarifying that he does not believe in guilt by association, Biden argued that “the connections have become so glaringly obvious that I think they’re trying to use other things to distract.”

Accusing the Trumps and their legal team of intimidation tactics, Biden said: “I also think they’re bullies, and they think that a billion dollars is going to scare me.

The fact of the matter is that… 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 that they met, I’m more than happy to provide them the platform to be able to do it.”

Melania Trump’s spokesperson, Nick Clemens, later issued a public statement underscoring her position: “First Lady Melania Trump’s attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods.

The true account of how the First Lady met President Trump is in her best-selling book, Melania.”

In her memoir, released in October 2024, Melania writes that she met Donald Trump during Fashion Week in September 1998 at the Kit Kat Klub in New York City.

At the time, Trump was on a date with another woman, but asked Melania for her phone number. She refused to give it, asking for his instead, and later called him. The couple married in January 2005.

The dispute over the Epstein claim is not new territory for Melania’s legal team. Just last month, The Daily Beast deleted an article titled “Melania Trump ‘very involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author,” which cited Wolff’s claims, after being threatened with legal repercussions.

Political analyst James Carville also issued a public apology after repeating similar allegations on his podcast, following a warning from Melania’s attorneys.

Epstein’s social connections to Donald Trump have been documented in photographs and media reports from the 1990s and early 2000s. A now-infamous image from February 12, 2000, shows Trump, Melania, Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell together at Mar-a-Lago.

In past interviews, Trump has acknowledged knowing Epstein, describing him in 2002 as a “terrific guy” before later distancing himself following Epstein’s arrest. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

For Biden, the clash with Melania Trump is the latest in a series of high-profile controversies.

The president’s son has faced years of legal and political scrutiny, but his willingness to publicly challenge the Trumps — and refuse to back down in the face of a billion-dollar legal threat — ensures the feud will remain in the spotlight.

With neither side showing any signs of retreat, the standoff now straddles both the personal and political, touching on past scandals, legal boundaries, and the high-stakes world of public image.

For Melania Trump, it is a fight to protect her reputation from what she calls baseless and damaging lies. For Hunter Biden, it is about resisting what he sees as intimidation and keeping attention on Epstein’s victims.

Whether the case will make it to court remains to be seen — but in an election year already charged with partisan tension, the public battle between the First Lady and the President’s son has all the elements of a political firestorm:

billion-dollar threats, explosive accusations, and two families who have shown time and again that they are willing to fight to the last word.