Overview

• On August 6, Melania Trump’s counsel Alejandro Brito sent a cease-and-desist letter to Hunter Biden demanding an immediate retraction, apology and preservation of related records, and threatening over $1 billion in damages for continued dissemination of the Epstein introduction claim.
• Hunter Biden repeated Michael Wolff’s allegation in Channel 5 interviews on July 21 and August 5 that Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania Trump to President Trump, despite The Daily Beast’s later retraction and apology for Wolff’s original article.
• A source told Fox News Digital that Biden’s team did not comply by the August 7 deadline and leaked the cease-and-desist letter to a friendly reporter, suggesting heightened concern over potential defamation liability.
• As of August 14, no lawsuit has been filed and the dispute remains in a pre-litigation phase, with both sides offering limited public comment on next steps.
• Legal experts note that public-figure defamation claims require proof of falsity and actual malice, a stringent standard that underlies the First Lady’s strategy of using legal threats to secure retractions.