The Daily Beast deleted an article Wednesday spotlighting allegations from Donald Trump biographer Michael Wolff that First Lady Melania Trump met the president through her relations with Jeffrey Epstein.
The digital news site said in a note from the editor that they received a letter from Melania’s attorney challenging the story’s headline and framing and that after further review, they decided to remove it. The headline, per Apple News, was “Melania Trump ‘Very Involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author.”
“After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article,” the editor’s note read. “After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding.”
The story is also no longer available on Apple News, but Wolff’s podcast interview with The Daily Beast is still available to watch on YouTube. His comments on Melania and Epstein’s alleged relationship begin at the 26:36-mark. Watch that below:
In the podcast interview with Joanna Coles, published Saturday, Wolff alleges that Donald and Melania met in 1998 through ID Models founder Paolo Zampolli, who himself had ties to Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell. He said that Melania was “very involved” in Epstein’s social circle.
As Coles reflected on the podcast about how Melania and Trump’s daughter Ivanka have not been standing by his side in the ongoing media blitz around the president’s relationship with convicted sex offender Epstein, Wolff maintained that she has never stood by his side.
In this case specifically, he argued, “She was very involved in this Epstein relationship. I mean, there was this model thing … She’s introduced by a model agent, both of whom Trump and Epstein are involved with. She’s introduced to Trump that way. Epstein knows her well. Epstein says the first time Donald Trump and Melania have sex is on his airplane. So this is a, you know, another complicated dimension in this. Where does she fit into the Epstein story? Where does she fit into this whole culture of models of indeterminant age?”
