Hunter Biden responds to Melania Trump’s billion-dollar lawsuit threat over Esptein connection claim
Hunter Biden has rejected Melania Trump’s billion-dollar lawsuit threat over his comments connecting her to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ms Trump takes issue with two comments Mr Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, made in an interview this month with American journalist and internet personality Andrew Callaghan.
He alleged Epstein introduced the First Lady to now-President Donald Trump.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The statements are false, defamatory, and “extremely salacious,” Melania Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, wrote in a letter to Mr Biden.
Sitting back down with Callaghan on his Channel 5 on Thursday, Mr Biden appeared unfazed by the potential legal battle, bluntly telling the First Lady: “f*** that – that’s not going to happen.”
“I also think they’re bullies, and they think that a billion dollars is going to scare me,” he said, referring to the US President and First Lady.
“If they want to sit down for a deposition and clarify the nature of the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein — if the President, the First Lady want to do that, and all of the known associates around them at the time of whatever time that they met, I’m more than happy to provide them the platform to be able to do it.”
Ms Trump’s lawyers say she will seek over $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) in damages if Mr Biden fails to retract his statements.
Mr Biden made the Epstein comments during a sprawling interview in which he lashed out at “elites” and others in the Democratic Party he says undermined his father before he dropped out of last year’s presidential campaign.
“Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep,” Mr Biden said in one of the comments Ms Trump disputes.
Mr Biden attributed the claim to author Michael Wolff, whom Mr Trump disparaged in June as a “Third Rate Reporter.” He has accused Wolff of making up stories to sell books.
The First Lady’s threats echo a favoured strategy of her husband, who has aggressively used litigation to go after critics. Public figures like the Trumps face a high bar to succeed in a defamation lawsuit.
The President and First Lady have long said they were introduced by Paolo Zampolli, a modelling agent, at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998.
- With AP
