First lady Melania Trump has taken a desperate step to defend herself in a lawsuit brought against her by Michael Wolff, a writer has revealed.
Wolf revealed Inside Trump’s head The podcast reveals that the president’s husband has hired a new, high-powered legal team to defend her against his groundbreaking lawsuit — which could allow the author to question Melania about her and her husband’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Donald and Melania Trump (then Melania Knauss) with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in 2000. / Davidoff Studio Photography / Getty Images
Wolff is suing the first lady under a special New York state law protecting journalists and free speech after threatening to sue her for $1 billion. He has raised an extraordinary sum of more than $775,000 to fund his lawsuit, which he filed in a New York City court in October. The lawsuit, known as a SLAPP action — standing for strategic lawsuit against public participation — gives Wolff subpoena power after being served on Melania.
But Wolff has revealed how he struggled to prosecute Trump. He said one of the firms prosecuting the case refused to cooperate with its lawyers and a second was unable to serve it.
Now Trump has launched a new legal strategy, hiring a big law firm and asking a federal judge to move the case into the federal court system — a move that Wolff said is intended to cause new delays. To bring the federal case, she hired a partner at DLA Piper, the world’s third-largest law firm, and, notably, a former Supreme Court clerk to Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Michael Wolff has written four books about Trump and his administration:
The new filing in New York State Supreme Court still lists Melania’s initial counsel — Alejandro Brito of Coral Gables, Florida — as part of her legal team, but says DLA partner Josh Halpern is now “of counsel” to the case. Halpern clerked for Gorsuch before joining DLA Piper.
Wolff said the move suggested concerns about the issue in Trump’s camp.
“Trump does this all the time,” Wolf told co-host Joanna Coles. “Keeps some new firm, asks questions later.”
And writing on his substack, HOWL, Wolff said the move showed he had forced the first lady “out into the open.”
“The immediate reason for this change of law firms, and the attempt to move to federal court, may be, service of our case (you were served) at his logical point of contact – through his lawyer in Coral Gables, and at his residence in Trump Tower – we filed a motion for alternative, we have offered for service on the court earlier this week. An acceptable and obtainable method for his service,” he wrote.
Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan in February 2020. / Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Additional legal counsel may indicate that the 55-year-old first lady is particularly concerned about delegating power to Wolff.
“He can’t let this happen,” Wolf told Coles. “So she’ll either — I mean, her options are to run the clock on it, which they’re definitely going to try to do. [use] Every delay strategy.”
Coles noted that, like the Epstein files, which continue to leak damaging details about President Trump, Melania Wolff and her lawyers cannot escape forever.
“Finally, the clock is up,” she said.
Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck and Jeffrey Epstein at a party at Mar-a-Lago on February 12, 2000. / Davidoff Studio Photography / Getty Images
Wolff, who alleges in her lawsuit that the first lady is trying to block a “legitimate investigation” by threatening to sue Epstein for a billion dollars, suggested that one way Trump could find a solution would be a solution — but he has strict conditions for that fantasy.
“I think at some point they might come and offer to settle it,” he theorized. “And what bargain shall I take? I know not. What shall I be, if they say, [and] They’re going to say it, but what if they won’t enter into promises to sue any media organization for defamation? Do I accept it?”
Donald and Melania Trump arrive for a New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago on December 31, 2025. / Joe Riddle/Getty Images
He continued, “Probably, yes. But it must be as certain as that.”
A spokeswoman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement. “Michael Wolff is a serial liar whose malicious, defamatory, and false statements have forced the Daily Beast to retract many of them. By repeating these latest lies, the Daily Beast and its reporters are making it clear that they have not learned their lesson.”
The White House referred the Daily Beast to Trump’s legal team. Trump’s White House spokesman, Steven Cheung, has repeatedly accused Wolff of being a “lying sack of st.”
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