First lady Melania Trump has put former first son Hunter Biden on notice − but he’s not flinching.
On Aug. 6, the first lady threatened to sue the son of former President Joe Biden for more than $1 billion if he doesn’t retract the claim that she was introduced to her husband by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
But that hasn’t stopped the scandal-ridden younger Biden, who was pardoned by his father after pleading guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges.
More: How Trump and 'terrific guy' Jeffrey Epstein's party boy friendship ended badly
On Aug. 14, Hunter Biden hit back with an expletive-laden response, saying he had read the account in newspaper articles dating back to 2019.
Melania Trump, who married President Donald Trump in 2005, described the claim as "false, disparaging, defamatory and inflammatory." Trump's legal notice was first reported by Fox News.
The legal notice by Alejandro Brito, the first lady’s lawyer, demands that Biden "immediately retract the false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements made about Mrs. Trump,” which were made during an interview earlier in the month on the YouTube show Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan.
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“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," he said referring to the author of several Trump books.
When Callaghan asked Biden if he would like to apologize to the first lady, he offered a colorful response.
“F--- that. That’s not going to happen,” he said, citing news reports dating back to 2019 that "reported that sources said that Jeffrey Epstein claimed to be the person to introduce Donald Trump to Melania at that time.”
Trump’s association with Epstein, whom he knew socially, has dogged him since his first term in office. In 2019, Trump said he’d had a “falling out” with Epstein, whom he described as a “Palm Beach fixture,” in the mid-2000s. Their connection was back in the spotlight when Tesla CEO Elon Musk linked Trump to Epstein during the height of their feud.
Trump said he encouraged his wife's legal action against Hunter Biden.
"Jeffrey Epstein had nothing to do with Melania," Trump said August. 14, during an interview with Fox Radio's Brian Kilmeade. "But they do that to demean. I told her to go ahead and do it. She was very upset about it."
Last month, the Daily Beast took down an article alleging a modeling agent connected to Epstein had introduced the first lady to her husabnd.
It included an editor's note saying the publication had "received a letter from First Lady Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article. After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding."
Earlier this month, Democratic strategist and podcaster James Carville issued an apology for accusing her of being introduced to Trump by Epstein. He also removed comments about the subject from the episode.
The first lady shared the apology on her X account with a red X over it.
Trump’s MAGA base has long floated conspiracy theories about Epstein’s jailhouse suicide and demanded the “Epstein files” to be released. Trump’s own Vice President JD Vance used to be one of them.
However, after Trump’s Justice Department and the FBI released a memo in early July declaring the disgraced financier died by suicide and asserted there was no evidence Epstein kept a "client list,” the MAGA world became sharply divided, with many being critical of Trump.
Hunter Biden called Melania Trump’s notice a “designed distraction.”
“I don't think that these threats of a lawsuit add up to anything other than a designed distraction, because it's not about who introduced whom to who,” he said. “I don't know how that in any way rises to the level of defamation to begin with.”
More: Epstein accuser's family wants answers from Trump after recent comments
Trump's connections to Epstein, Hunter Biden said, have become “so glaringly obvious that I think they're trying to use other things to distract − and I also think they're bullies.”
Biden said he’d be “happy” to provide the president and first lady with a “platform” if they want to sit down for a deposition and clarify the nature of their relationship with Epstein.
“I think the entire world would love to finally get to the bottom of the true nature of their relationship,” he said.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Melania Trump and Hunter Biden spar over Jeffrey Epstein
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