Trump aide who introduced Melania to Donald had extensive Epstein ties

First Lady Melania Trump may have publicly denounced “lies” linking her to convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but the Daily Beast reports her ties to the convicted sex trafficker delve deep into “fashion, power, and proximity.”

It was Italian modeling agent Paolo Zampolli who first introduced then Slovenian model Melania Knauss to his friend Donald Trump in 1998. But the Beast reports that in the early 2000s, Zampolli and Epstein discussed buying a modeling agency together. Later, the Beast said Zampolli was named a partner in the now-defunct TerraMar Project ocean charity founded by Epstein’s convicted sex-trafficking partner Ghislaine Maxwell.

“In a phone interview with the Daily Beast, Zampolli — who now serves as special envoy for Donald Trump — described his relationship with Epstein as one of necessity,” reports the Beast.

“For me, Jeffrey Epstein was a financial partner of Victoria’s Secret. I had to deal with him,” Zampolli told the Beast, because the American lingerie business was run at the time by another Epstein associate, Les Wexner.

“We never get along, thank God. But I had to have a very cordial relationship,” Zampolli said.

Zampolli, who is now the Trump administration’s special envoy for global partnership, has never been accused of wrongdoing in relation to the convicted sex trafficker or his accomplice, but his name peppers the Epstein files, reports the Beast.

“One document from 2020 contains an FBI interview with an alleged Epstein victim, who used to be one of the models at his agency,” reported Beast Political Correspondent Farrah Tomazin. “Another involves Epstein warning associate Sultan Bin Salayam to ‘be careful’ of Zampolli, claiming he is ‘trouble’ and ‘sells stories to the press.’”

And even as Melania Trump tried to distance herself from Epstein on Thursday, Amanda Ungaro, a Brazilian model with a long relationship with Zampolli may have posted a series of claims on social media, claiming to know her and threatening to “expose everything that I know,” according to Tomazin.

Zampolli told the Beast that he’s not sure if Ungaro “ever spoke to [Melania Trump] in maybe 10 years, maximum 13 years.”