Transcription
Melania Trump was just sued in the Supreme Court of the State of New York by Michael Wolf, renowned author who has reported on Donald Trump before. He is Trump's former biographer. He was, uh, uh, spoken to by Jeffrey Epstein about potentially being Epstein's biographer and had spent hours and hours speaking with Epstein. And Michael Wolf has, uh, published works about Donald Trump that I'm sure you've all read and know about.
We've had Michael Wolf on our network before, and Michael Wolf has reported and he's spoken to reporters about what's, uh, been going on behind the scenes as Donald Trump is covering up the Epstein files, which we all know is taking place right now in plain view. And it's one of the reasons that our freaking government is shut down right now, as they're trying to stop Adalita Grihalva, who would be the 218th signature, the Democratic Congresswoman-elect from Arizona's 7th Congressional District, from signing the discharge petition to release the Epstein files.
So, here's what went down. Melania Trump sent a threatening demand letter to Michael Wolf, um, where she misrepresented a bunch of statements that Michael Wolf had previously made, both on Instagram as well as statements that the Daily Beast then put into articles. Again, it was, um, kind of half-statements. They, uh, it didn't fully give the full context of what Wolf was saying. Um, but, uh, a demand letter was sent to Michael Wolf.
The letter was sent on October 15, 2025. We have a copy of the letter here. It says, "Dear Mr. Wolf, this law firm represents, uh, is litigation counsel for the First Lady of the United States of America, Melania Trump, hereinafter Mrs. Trump." And then it goes on to say that we believe you've engaged in defamations and it goes into, "Here's the, uh, articles defamatory statements," and they list in the article and they go, "You said Melania Trump is very involved in the Epstein scandal. You've said, 'First Lady Melania could be the missing link in Trump's ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epste.'" I'm reading from the letter right now that this guy, Alejandro Brrito, sent to Wolf. "C. Melania was very involved in Epstein's social circle and noted that this is how she met Trump. D. She introduced by a model agency, both of whom Trump and Epstein are involved with. She introduc, she was introduced to Trump that way. Epstein knew her well."
Then it goes on to cite other Instagram posts where, uh, it says that you said, Wolf, that Epstein told you that Trump and Melania got together for the first time on Epstein's airplane and that Melania met Trump through the same modeling circles through which Epstein and Trump procured dates. You said, Wolf, "This sham marriage, trophy marriage, hardly any marriage at all, is part of the scam."
Then it makes a very specific demand. It says, "You need to apologize. You need to issue a retraction. You need to do this all in public." And it says, "Please govern yourself accordingly." Wolf.
So, on the deadline that was given for, I guess, Michael Wolf to govern himself accordingly, Michael Wolf sued Melania in New York Supreme Court, which is their trial court. We have the lawsuit right here, verified complaint for declaratory judgment and damages under New York's anti-SLAPP statute, strategic lawsuit against free speech, basically against public policy, where Michael Wolf is saying, "I'm reporting on the facts that I know. I'm an author who has a First Amendment right."
And then Michael Wolf goes through each of the allegations that are being made and says, "First off, you're, um, providing incomplete or kind of erroneous context to what I actually said." And then there's opinion protections. One of the protections is truth and being truthful about it. And Wolf sued Melania Trump for this declaratory relief action under anti-SLAPP law in New York. And it basically says, "Look, by you, Alejandro Breto, on behalf of Melania Trump, sending these demand letters and making these threats to chill my speech, I've now had to hire an attorney. I'm incurring costs. This is a First Amendment right that I have to report on these facts. So, I want a declaratory relief action. I want the court here in New York to say that what I'm doing is protected under New York's anti-SLAPP statute, which provides strong First Amendment protections to reporters and to, uh, journalists and to authors. I want attorneys' fees as a result of what's, uh, happened. And I want discovery."
And a major part of this lawsuit, um, filed by Michael Wolf, says, "By her threat letter and this responsive declaratory and related anti-SLAPP action, Mrs. Trump has given Wolf subpoena power, which he intends to exercise fully and expeditiously. Since the statements at issue pertain to matters that largely occurred here in New York City, this action will call for and permit subpoenas to numerous witnesses, most of them in New York. Subpoenas will go to those who frequented or who were part of Epstein's circle, including Mr. Trump."
I want to bring in right now Michael Wolf, the plaintiff in this case, who just filed this lawsuit against Melania Trump. Ben, how are you? Nice to see you.
>> Great to see you. And I think there's so many people who have seen Melania going around with these litigation threat letters. She threatened Hunter Biden and said, "I'm going to sue you," but then never ended up actually suing Hunter Biden. But you've taken the extraordinary action of saying, "I'm standing up for my reporting. I'm standing up for the First Amendment and I'm suing you." So, talk to us about that.
>> Well, you know, I think very simply, someone had to do it. Um, I probably would have preferred that it not be me, but, um, you know, come the moment, here it is. And, um, what they've done is, is, is obvious and it's disgraceful and what they keep doing. Um, and, um, and everybody throughout the media business, there's a, there's a, a chill, and a chill is, is probably the kindest word. Um, you know, I, I don't think I mean, I just sued, sued, um, the First Lady of the United States. A kind of, um, you know, man bites dog lawsuit. It's a great story. You won't see this story, I'll bet, in the New York Times because the New York Times is being sued by this same lawyer who is, who is suing me. Everybody is frightened. Um, and, um, and I, you know, I thought, well, what, what can I do here? I mean, obviously, um, obviously I'm not going to apologize. Um, apologize. My God. Um, I'm not going to retract. There's virtually nothing to retract here. The truth is that anything that I have said here is, um, mild. In fact, it's certainly not defamatory to say that someone knew someone. Matter of fact, we, we have seen the pictures of them together. So, this is, this is obvious. Um, and then there's opinion, which is protected. This, this is, I mean, I've been doing this job for a, a very long time and I have never been at a moment when, um, when there is a virtual guarantee of a lawsuit when you say, when you, when you, when you move into territory that the people in power don't want you to move into. This is not even a matter of what you said. It's the subject itself that cannot be discussed. So, um, that was like, okay, you know, I, I mean, this is, there, there, there is a law, there are laws against this. There are laws against what the First Lady and the President are doing. You cannot use a legal remedy to intimidate someone from, um, from speaking out. So, um, here we are. I've sued the First Lady.
So, in a lot of these lawsuits that have been filed by Donald Trump, for example, um, against the corporations, whether it's the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times or whoever, in those lawsuits, even where the Journal or the New York Times appears to be fighting back, what they don't do though, and I'm very cognizant of this, is go after the discovery that would be so obvious. Like, if I'm the Wall Street Journal and I'm sued by Trump with the Epstein book, the first thing I do, boom, day one, Donald deposition right there, sit across from me, and we know historically he does either horrible in depositions after avoiding it or he avoids the case and then dismisses the case. Same thing with Melania. So, you mention here, I am going to go after discovery, Melania. I'm going to take your deposition. I'm going to subpoena you, Melania. I want to see your emails, Melania. I want your documents, Melania. I want your text messages, Melania. I'm going to talk about all of the Epstein connections. You wanted to do this. We're going to do this and we're going to do discovery. I want Donald Trump's deposition right now as well. So, talk to us about the discovery that you're looking to get in this case.
>> Well, you know, I think that this is an opportunity to ask all of the questions that they have refused to answer. I mean, it's, it's very, it's very straightforward. I mean, we know that, uh, that Donald Trump had a long, long, deep, abiding relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Let's, let's hear the details. Let's hear the details of their financial involvement. Let's hear the details of their sexual involvement. Not that they were involved together, but, but one or the other as each other's wingman in many situations. Um, and I say that using the politest words. Um, uh, let's, let's get into it. Um, let's get into, um, um, Melania's history. How does she come to this country? What does she do when she's here? How does she meet, um, uh, uh, Donald Trump? What's her relationship to the, to the modeling agents who knew both Epstein and Trump? I mean, these are all of, all of the questions which I think, um, once they are answered, we will have a much clearer picture of what Jeffrey Epstein did, who he did it to, and how the President of the United States was involved.
And right now, as the government is shut down and one of the reasons that seems to be clear is that, uh, they don't want this discharge petition being signed by Adalita Grihalva, who would be the 218th signature. She's that Democratic Congresswoman-elect from Arizona's 7th Congressional District. And so, you know, behind the scenes and in front of the scenes, you know, you're reporting on Epstein and you've been the best reporter, the person who's been, you spoke with Epstein. You sat with the guy like no one else has done that. You've got hours and hours and hours of recordings of the guy. But you were, you were warning about all of this. You were raising the red flag about these connections before anybody here. Um, you know, we were amplifying a lot of the cover, what I think should have been out there at the time, but now you're seeing it in a way that's so, um, damaging to the country. I mean, to people's healthcare, to people's lives. Like, that's what's so wild about this, too. So, how do you make, what do you make of it?
>> I mean, you know, I, I mean, we, we know it is the one subject that he does not want to address. It is the one subject that he has not been able to escape. You know, Donald Trump is, is, I would say the thing that he ought to be best known for is his ability to change the subject. He has not been able to change the, the, the Epstein subject. Um, I think partly because people understand that it is the key to understanding so much about, about Donald Trump in particular, but our, our time in general and the nature of power and, and, and who has it and, um, and what powerful people do with it. This is, um, you know, Jeffrey Epstein is the, is the, is the secret code ring in a sense. And, um, Trump clearly knows this, clearly knows that he, in, in any telling of Epstein's life story, he is deeply implicated. And, um, um, and he has, he certainly has not figured a way to get to change that subject and get out of this fix. And, um, the effort to sue me and to, and to shut me up, me along with, with, with others, is an effort to change the subject and shut down discussion of, of, um, of his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. Um, and, and I assume that that's what they thought they would accomplish by suing me. Um, and I, and I don't know why I am somewhat different from everyone else. I mean, I mean, I think I, I, I am because I'm an individual. I'm not, I'm not ABC, which is owned by the Disney company, and, and Disney has, has myriad, uh, yeah, has billions of dollars at issue, as does CBS, which he, which he sued. Um, um, so, uh, so here I am. And, um, um, you know, I have, I have good lawyers. Um, although having said that, and let me say here that this is going to be an expensive process. Um, and I think it's going to be a fruitful one because I think it will cover all kinds of things. But whoever you are out there listening now, I will inevitably come to you through GoFundMe or other avenues, um, for support. I think we are, this is, this is, this is not just me. This is an effort to get the truth of, of, um, what Jeffrey Epstein means to Donald Trump.
>> Well, let us know whenever you have that set up. We'll have you back on to give us the update. Let us know when she's been officially served, when you get out that first round of discovery. I'd love to share with, uh, you know, our viewers here all of the discovery requests that she's going to be asked about her past connections, about Donald Trump's past connections, his subpoena when he gets subpoenaed under the President, the, uh, Clinton Jones case, he doesn't have executive immunity to, to try to, he'll try to block it, but I think that you have a path to get discovery there, especially with all that he said. So, we'll be following it, Michael. And on behalf of journalists, you know, who care about the First Amendment across the country, I mean, a big thanks to you for standing up in a, in a big way. We really appreciate it.
>> Well, it's going to be, um, it's going to be a hell of a ride. That note, everybody, hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Hang in there. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at midasplus.com. [Music]