Journalist and President Donald Trump biographer Michael Wolff has filed a legal complaint against first lady Melania Trump, accusing her, along with her husband, of making "a practice of threatening those who speak against them," reports TheWrap.
This follows a threat from the first lady's legal team to sue Wolff over a claim published in a July 2025 Daily Beast article that linked her to late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
According to the BBC, Wolff reportedly told the Daily Beast that Melania Trump was known to associate with Epstein when she met her husband.
In October 2025, her legal team sent a letter to President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, threatening to sue him over a claim that she was introduced to Donald Trump by Jeffrey Epstein. Hunter made the claim during an interview with filmmaker Andrew Callaghan, and he stated that the information came in part from Wolff.
In court documents obtained by TheWrap, Wolff claims the first lady sent a threat letter, which demanded the journalist apologize by Tuesday over “false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading and inflammatory statements” he allegedly made about her and her connection to the Epstein scandal — or be sued for $1 billion in damages.
Wolff, who was considering writing a book on Epstein, was defended by his attorney who said he was simply doing his job “diligently,” which included asking “important questions that deserve inquiry.”
Wolff's legal complaint excoriated the Trumps, saying, “Mrs. Trump and her ‘unitary executive’ husband along with their MAGA myrmidons have made a practice of threatening those who speak against them with costly SLAPP actions in order to silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally and to extract unjustified payments and North Korea style confession and apologies.”
Wolff, who is seeking legal fees and compensatory damages, added, “These threatened legal actions are designed to create a climate of fear in the nation so that people cannot freely or confidently exercise their First Amendment rights. The threats are also intended to shut down legitimate inquiry into the Epstein matter which the Trumps and their collaborators have at every turn sought to impede and suppress.”
The complaint condemned the first lady's tactics to silence freedom of speech — especially when it comes to the Epstein scandal.
“[Mrs. Trump’s claims] impede and chill future reporting and writing that Mr. Wolff has committed to doing regarding Epstein, Mr. Trump and Mrs. Trump,” the complaint added. “In many respects that is the primary purpose of these claims,” it said.