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Author Michael Wolff is suing Melania Trump after the first lady threatened to sue him if he didn’t retract statements he made about her and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Wolff accused Melania Trump and her husband, President Donald Trump, of making a practice out of “threatening those who speak against them.”
The Daily Beast published a story based on an interview with Wolff, which the outlet removed in July and ultimately apologized for, admitting it did not meet editorial standards. Melania Trump’s attorney issued a legal threat challenging “the headline and framing.”
Wolff argued that the first couple seeks to punish foes by trying “to silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally, and to extract unjustified payments and North Korean-style confessions and apologies,” through legal action, according to the AP.
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The author said the legal threats “are designed to create a climate of fear in the nation so that people cannot freely or confidently exercise their First Amendment rights,” the AP reported.
Wolff sued on the deadline Trump’s lawyer had set for the author to retract the statements he made, apologize and pay damages.
Wolff initially made the allegations in an interview with Daily Beast chief content officer Joanna Coles for The Daily Beast Podcast. They were discussing Trump’s alleged connections with Epstein, the disgraced sex criminal financier who died in 2019. His death, officially ruled a suicide, continues to be a subject of fierce debate.
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“[Melania] was very involved in this Epstein relationship. There is this model thing, and she’s introduced by a model agent, both of whom Trump and Epstein are involved with. She’s introduced to Trump that way, Epstein knows her well,” Wolff alleged on the podcast.
The author told Fox News Digital in July that he had nothing to do with the article.
“First lady Melania Trump is proud to continue standing up to those who spread malicious and defamatory falsehoods as they desperately try to get undeserved attention and money from their unlawful conduct,” Nicholas Clemens, a spokesperson for Melania Trump, told the AP.
The first lady’s office did not immediately return a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Wolff’s lawsuit argues that it’s fair to ask whether Melania Trump allegedly fits into the Epstein story, according to the AP. He intends to put the Trumps under oath and face questions about the convicted sex offender through his legal action, the outlet reported.
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Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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