Daily Beast forced to retract story falsely linking Melania Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, issues apology

The Daily Beast has removed an article that cited claims from Michael Wolff that pointed to a fake connection between First Lady Melania Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. The outlet issued an editor’s note Wednesday, admiting it took the story down after receiving a legal challenge from Melania Trump’s attorney.

The original piece had promoted allegations made by Wolff, a longtime Donald Trump biographer, during an interview with The Daily Beast podcast. The article’s headline, as it appeared on Apple News, read: “Melania Trump ‘Very Involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author.” That headline no longer appears on the site or in search results.

“After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article,” the note stated. “After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding.”

Although the article is gone from both The Daily Beast and Apple News, the podcast episode in which Wolff made the comments remains available on YouTube. His remarks about Melania Trump and Epstein begin at the 26:36 mark of the interview, which aired Saturday and was hosted by Joanna Coles.

In the interview, Wolff claimed Melania met Donald Trump in 1998 through ID Models founder Paolo Zampolli, a figure with alleged ties to Epstein. “She was very involved in this Epstein relationship,” Wolff said. “I mean, there was this model thing … 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. Epstein says the first time Donald Trump and Melania have sex is on his airplane.”

Wolff also described her involvement in Epstein’s orbit as “another complicated dimension” and raised questions about her role in “this whole culture of models of indeterminant age,” he said, according to The Wrap.