CELEBRITY
Michael Wolff on suing Melania Trump for threatening him: “Trump and Epstein were the closest of friends for nearly 15 years. This lawsuit is an opportunity to reconstruct all their lives together. It is exactly what Trump wants BURIED. Bring it on.” đȘ
Michael Wolff on suing Melania Trump for threatening him: “Trump and Epstein were the closest of friends for nearly 15 years. This lawsuit is an opportunity to reconstruct all their lives together. It is exactly what Trump wants BURIED. Bring it on.” đȘ
**MichaelâŻWolff Takes Legal Fight to Melania Trump Over EpsteinâRelated Claims**
*NewâŻYork* â Author and longtime biographer Michael Wolff has filed suit against Melania Trump, the First Lady, after she threatened him with âover $1âŻbillionâ in damages for statements he made concerning her and her husband, Donald Trump, and their ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. ([AP News][1])
In his complaint filed in Manhattan state court, Wolff characterizes Melaniaâs legal threat as part of a larger pattern of intimidation aimed at silencing his inquiry into TrumpâEpstein relationships. He alleges the First Lady demanded a retraction of his comments and that failure to comply would trigger suit for âover $1âŻbillion in damages.â ([AP News][1])
Wolff argues that the suit presents an opportunity not merely to defend his free speech rights but also to âreconstructâ the lives and intertwined histories of DonaldâŻTrump and JeffreyâŻEpstein â what he describes as the âexactly what Trump wants buriedâ scenario.
âBring it on,â Wolff said in public remarks, asserting that through this lawâfare he will seek depositions and subpoenas of key figures â including the President and First Lady â to force open the âdark curtainâ surrounding Epsteinâs relationship to Trump.
### Whatâs at Issue
The core dispute arises from Wolffâs prior statements and published audio excerpts in which Epstein claimed that Trump was his âclosest friend for ï»ż10âŻyearsâ and provided intimate commentary about Trumpâs personal life and social circle. ([The Times of Israel][3])
Wolff contends that Epsteinâs extensive seating of recorded material â including âabout 100âŻhoursâ of conversation â provide a foundation for his claims. ([The Yale Review][4])
Melaniaâs camp, for its part, issued a statement denying what it called âmalicious and defamatory falsehoodsâ and defended the threat of litigation as a response to âthose who spread ⊠undeserved attention and money from their unlawful conduct.â ([AP News][1])
### Legal & Strategic Dynamics
From a legal standpoint, Wolffâs move appears to be a preâemptive countermeasure: by suing first, he hopes to redirect the narrative, gain discovery rights (including subpoena power), and shift the burden onto the Trumps to defend the threatened litigation. Observers describe this as a bold, highâstakes gambit. ([Courthouse News][5])
For the Trump camp, allowing Wolff to proceed unchallenged could risk deeper public scrutiny of TrumpâEpstein ties, which Wolff and others say have remained largely hidden. Conversely, aggressively proceeding with a major defamation suit also carries risk of intense media and legal exposure.
### What Happens Next
* The lawsuit opens the door to depositions under oath, which Wolff has publicly said he intends to use to âopen the curtainâ on Trump/ÂEpstein. ([The Daily Beast][2])
* Discovery could force document production, testimony and crossâexamination of both parties.
* The Trump side may choose to settle to avoid protracted litigation, or may push ahead in an attempt to deter future challenges.
* Meanwhile, the public debate may intensify around the substance of the EpsteinâTrump friendship, which Wolff has long argued was deeper and more consequential than previously recognized. ([Newsweek][6])
### Significance
This case carries significance well beyond a typical defamation spat: it highlights issues of free speech (especially reporting about powerful public figures), potential abuse of litigation threats to silence critics, and the highâstakes political dimension of a former President whose associations remain under media and legal scrutiny.
For Wolff, it represents a chance to advance a longârunning narrative about the TrumpâEpstein era. For the Trumps, it tests whether they can contain or reverse the release of potentially damaging material by legal means.
### Bottom Line
With Wolff signaling that he intends to âbring it on,â this legal showdown may turn into much more than a libel dispute. It could become a battleground over what gets revealed about one of the most controversial friendships of recent times â and whether the mechanisms of intimidation and suppression can, in fact, be challenged.