Author Michael Wolff, 72, says first lady Melania Trump, 55, appears to be hiding from him as he attempts to serve legal papers in connection with a preemptive lawsuit he filed against her. The unusual legal battle stems from threats of a $1 billion defamation suit the first lady made against Wolff over statements he made about her relationship with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Wolff filed the lawsuit in October 2025 using a New York law designed to combat Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, which are intended to silence criticism. He is asking the court to shut down Melania Trump’s legal threats and allow him to question her and President Donald Trump about their ties to Epstein. However, serving papers to someone with one of the most elaborate security details in the world has proven difficult. “It would appear that Melania Trump is hiding from me,” Wolff said on a podcast.
The author first attempted to serve the first lady through her attorney, who initially directed all communications to his office. When Wolff’s team went to the attorney’s office to serve him, the lawyer refused to accept service. Wolff then hired a legal process server to hand-deliver the papers to Trump Tower, but that effort also encountered obstacles. After initially accepting the documents, the process service company called back and refused to complete the service once they realized the recipient was the first lady of the United States.
A second attempt was made on what Wolff indicated was around December 18, 2025. When the new service company arrived at Trump Tower, staff members said they would throw the papers in the garbage and refused to accept them. However, the encounter yielded one significant piece of information. When asked whether Melania Trump resides at Trump Tower, staff confirmed that she does live there, not at the White House. This testimony contradicts expectations that a first lady would reside in the executive mansion.
The legal dispute originated after Wolff made statements about the first lady in July 2025 during an episode of a podcast. Melania Trump accused him of making extremely salacious allegations and demanded retractions. Following a complaint from the first lady, The Daily Beast retracted an article based on the podcast and removed a portion of the episode, saying the content did not meet their standards.
The controversy unfolds against the backdrop of renewed scrutiny over President Trump’s past association with Epstein. The House Oversight Committee released 23,000 documents from Epstein’s estate in November 12, 2025, including emails that reference Trump. In one email from April 2011, Epstein wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump spent hours at his house with a victim and that Trump knew about the girls. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her involvement in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.
In another email to Wolff from January 31, 2019, Epstein referenced Mar-a-Lago and wrote that Trump knew about the girls, adding that Trump asked Maxwell to stop. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the revelations by saying the emails are selective and designed to create a fake narrative. She stated that Virginia Giuffre never accused Trump of wrongdoing and that Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for being a creep to female employees.
House Democrats released over 20,000 additional pages of documents related to the Epstein case. Representative Robert Garcia has been involved in efforts to obtain the documents. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while in prison awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Wolff expects to inform the court that he has exhausted all options for serving Melania Trump and anticipates she will be officially served by the end of the week. The case represents an unusual legal challenge involving a sitting first lady, particularly one who has maintained a limited presence at the White House during her husband’s second term.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump has been fulfilling traditional holiday duties, hosting festivities and selecting decorations for the White House.
The legal standoff between Wolff and the first lady continues as both sides navigate the unprecedented situation. The author has written four books about Trump and his administrations, documenting various aspects of the president’s time in office. The outcome of the lawsuit could determine whether Wolff will be able to question the Trumps under oath about their connections to Epstein, a case that has generated significant public interest and congressional investigation.
