Michael Wolff, journalist and President Donald Trump biographer, warned that first lady Melania Trump should be concerned about his questions for her about her relationship with the late financier and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Wolff, who has written four books about the president, has expressed that he has important questions for Melania and accused the Trump family's attorneys of "llegal stonewalling" in an interview with The Daily Beast's Joanna Coles, chief creative and content officer, and opinion piece for The Beast and recent Substack essay. At the center of his questions is whether Melania was involved in the recruiting or operations of a modeling agency that reportedly connected young girls to Epstein.
Wolff is the first person to bring a lawsuit against the first lady — or any first lady. The writer revealed why the Trumps are afraid to speak out about Epstein after Melania Trump threatened to sue him in what he calls a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP, lawsuit, and how he filed an anti-SLAPP suit in response.
"Melania Trump does not believe she will have to sit through a deposition conducted by my lawyers and answer questions about Jeffrey Epstein. Her lawyers, to the extent that they discuss anything with her, have undoubtedly assured her of that: It won’t happen, because, well, it can’t happen," he said.
"But if it did… no, neither her lawyers, nor White House staff, nor the first lady, nor the president can begin to imagine what that would entail," Wolff said.
Part of Wolff's lawsuit will have to prove that Melania Trump lives more days in New York than she does in Washington, D.C., or Florida, Wolff explained.
"The problem is then that — for them — would reveal that this is a marriage like none other than we've seen in the White House," he said.
The lawsuit could end up deposing other people if the Trumps decline depositions.
"We are in it for the long haul. The race is long and we are in it," he added.
Epstein and Donald Trump were acquainted for several decades, moving in similar wealthy Manhattan social circles during the 1980s and 1990s, with multiple credible accounts documenting their attendance at the same parties and events. While Trump has claimed minimal friendship with Epstein and stated they had a falling out in the early 2000s, court documents and witness testimonies have confirmed they knew each other and socialized together during a period when Epstein was actively engaged in his trafficking operation, though no evidence has emerged suggesting Trump was involved in or had knowledge of Epstein's crimes.