Melania was ‘very involved’ in Epstein’s circle and that's how she met Trump, claims biographer

This story has been updated with new information from the First Lady Melania Trump's attorney. 

Update: Since our original report referenced The Daily Beast podcast and its claims, we want to note that The Daily Beast has since retracted the accompanying article detailing allegations by journalist Michael Wolff.

The story had alleged that Melania Trump was introduced to Donald Trump through a modeling agent connected to Jeffrey Epstein. After receiving a legal challenge from the first lady’s attorneys, The Daily Beast issued the following editor’s note in place of the original article: “Editor’s Note: 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. After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding.”

The original hyperlink now redirects to this retraction notice: https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-this-story-has-been-removed

WASHINGTON, DC: New claims from journalist and longtime Donald Trump biographer Michael Wolff have stirred fresh controversy around Jeffrey Epstein, this time placing first lady Melania Trump at the center of the conversation.

Appearing on 'The Daily Beast Podcast' hosted by Joanna Coles, Wolff asserted that Melania was “very involved” in Epstein’s elite social circuit, and even suggested that her introduction to Donald Trump was facilitated through mutual contacts also connected to Epstein.

Michael Wolff claims Jeffrey Epstein knew Melania Trump well

“She was introduced by a model agent, both of whom Trump and Epstein are involved with. She’s introduced to Trump that way,” Michael Wolff said. “Epstein knew her well.”

The agent in question is believed to be Paolo Zampolli, founder of ID Models, who reportedly had connections to both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and helped Melania emigrate to the US in the 1990s.

In tapes recorded by Wolff, the disgraced financier reportedly claimed that Trump liked to “f***” his friends’ wives and first slept with Melania on his “Lolita Express,” as per a report by The Daily Beast. 

Zampolli, who was appointed Trump’s special representative for global partnerships in 2025, has not commented on the claims, though his long-standing loyalty to the president is well documented.

Wolff, meanwhile, questioned the first lady’s low profile throughout Trump’s presidency. “Where does (Melania) fit into the Epstein story? Where does she fit into this, into this whole culture of models of indeterminate age? So this is another complicated dimension in this,” Wolff asked.

The Trump administration has come under renewed media pressure in the wake of a July 6 memo issued by the Department of Justice and FBI, which concluded that Epstein died by suicide while in custody in 2019, awaiting trial on trafficking charges.

The report also stated there was no official “client list” of elite collaborators, a revelation that clashes with persistent conspiracy theories popular among Trump’s MAGA supporters.

Melania Trump says she met Donald at a NYC nightclub

First lady Melania Trump recently shared an excerpt from her memoir, 'Melania', where she talks about how she met Trump.

The two-page section, released last week, directly counters the claims of Wolff, who suggested Melania’s relationship with the president began through Epstein’s network of powerful acquaintances.

According to Melania, her first encounter with Trump took place at a late-night party at New York’s now-shuttered Kit Kat Club in September 1998.