Prince Andrew book removes Jeffrey Epstein claim after Melania Trump’s $1B lawsuit threat to Hunter Biden

WASHINGTON, DC: A controversial claim that Jeffrey Epstein introduced President Donald Trump to his wife, first lady Melania Trump, has been removed from a new book about Prince Andrew. 

The first 60,000 copies of Andrew Lownie’s 'Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York', released on August 14, carried the allegation before the publisher, HarperCollins, pulled it.

HarperCollins confirms removal of passages from Andrew Lownie's book

A spokesperson for HarperCollins UK confirmed changes to the book, saying, “We can confirm that several passages from 'Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York' by Andrew Lownie have been removed in consultation with the author."

The spokesperson confirmed that while 'Entitled' is published in the UK by HarperCollins, in the US, the book is self-published by Lownie. 

The ebook and audiobook editions have reportedly already been updated, and future print editions will now reflect these changes.

Melania Trump’s lawyer demanded apology from Hunter Biden

Previously, during an August 5 interview on YouTube with Andrew Callaghan, Hunter Biden repeated biographer Michael Wolff’s claim that Jeffrey Epstein introduced the president to Melania Trump.

Melania's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, sent a letter to Hunter on August 6 demanding an apology and retraction of his interview comments.

The letter described the allegations as false, defamatory, and “extremely salacious,” warning Biden to apologize or face legal action for “over $1bn in damages.”

Days later, President Donald Trump addressed the matter on Fox News in an interview with Brian Kilmeade on August 12.

“I told her, ‘Let’s go ahead and do it,’” Trump said during the interview, adding, “I let her use my lawyers.”

He continued, “Jeffrey Epstein had nothing to do with Melania and introducing. It was another person actually… but it wasn’t Jeffrey Epstein.”

Hunter Biden refuses to apologize and cites Michael Wolff again

Hunter Biden, however, has refused to back down and apologize despite the legal threat.

Biden returned to Callaghan’s show on August 14 and said, “F**k that. That’s not gonna happen," after Callaghan revealed to him the letter from the first lady's lawyer.

He again pointed to Wolff, who had been cited in a July Daily Beast story titled "Melania Trump ‘very involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author."

The story was later deleted in full after threats of legal action.

Democratic strategist James Carville also faced pushback earlier this month, removing parts of a podcast episode that linked Melania to Epstein after being contacted by her legal team.