First Lady Melania Trump’s carefully crafted denials about her past connections face new scrutiny after resurfaced court documents reveal contradictions in her own statements about communications with associates of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The revelations come as the First Lady made a rare public statement on Thursday denying any relationship with Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. But evidence from a 2017 libel case she won against the Daily Mail tells a different story about her claims.
At the center of the controversy: Mrs. Trump twice described an email to one of Epstein’s top associates as a “reply” when the email’s subject line—”HI!”—suggests she initiated the contact. Maxwell’s response, by contrast, bore a subject line indicating it was actually a reply.
The Daily Mail paid Mrs. Trump damages and legal costs of approximately $2.9 million in April 2017 after publishing allegations she “provided services beyond simply modelling” during her career. The settlement, reached at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, covered legal actions brought by Trump in both the UK and US.
The newspaper had originally published the claims on August 20, 2016, under the headline “Racy photos and troubling questions about his wife’s past that could derail Trump,” during the heated final months of the presidential campaign. Mrs. Trump initially sought $150 million in damages.
An agreed statement read by solicitor John Kelly of Harbottle and Lewis stated the Daily Mail published “false and defamatory claims about [Mrs Trump] which questioned the nature of her work as a professional model.”
The statement added that the allegations “strike at the heart of the claimant’s personal integrity and dignity.”
Catrin Evans QC, representing Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers, told the court at the time that the defendant was there “publicly to set the record straight and to apologise to the claimant for any distress and embarrassment.”
Attorney Charles Harder handled the case for Mrs. Trump. Harder also represented wrestler Hulk Hogan in his invasion of privacy lawsuit against Gawker Media—a case that resulted in a $140 million jury verdict and ultimately a $31 million settlement that forced the website’s bankruptcy and sale.
In documents filed in New York earlier in 2017, lawyers for Mrs. Trump argued she had suffered significant financial damage from the allegations, claiming “economic damage to the plaintiff’s brand, and licensing, marketing and endorsement opportunities” worth “multiple millions of dollars.”
The lawsuit described Mrs. Trump as having “the unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person, as well as a former professional model, brand spokesperson and successful businesswoman, to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories.”
Born Melanija Knavs in Novo Mesto, Slovenia—and raised in Sevnica—Mrs. Trump began modeling as a teenager and traveled throughout Europe and the US for high-profile campaigns. She met Donald Trump in September 1998 at a New York Fashion Week party when she was 28 years old. The couple married in 2005 and have one son together.
The current controversy emerges as Mrs. Trump maintains a relatively low public profile compared to previous first ladies. Her Thursday statement denying connections to Epstein marked a rare direct comment on allegations about her past, delivered in a six-minute address from the White House.
The First Lady has faced scrutiny over her public statements before. In 2020, secretly recorded tapes released by her former advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff captured Mrs. Trump complaining about “Christmas stuff” and expressing frustration over criticism of the Trump administration’s family separation policy at the border.
Following the 2017 settlement, Mrs. Trump’s lawyer said she was “very pleased” with the outcome and would “remain vigilant to protect her good name.”
The BBC reported at the time that the double-page spread featured a prominent photograph of Mrs. Trump from her modeling career. Kelly told the court that “readers of the newspaper could not fail to miss the article.”
The White House has not responded to requests for comment about the contradictions between Mrs. Trump’s recent denials and evidence from the court documents. President Donald Trump has not addressed the matter publicly.
