The Daily Beast has issued a public apology to first lady Melania Trump and retracted an article alleging that she met her husband President Donald Trump through a modeling agent connected to Jeffrey Epstein.
The article was originally pulled in July following a legal threat from the first lady’s attorney challenging “the headline and framing,” per Fox News. The Daily Beast acknowledged that the story, which relied on allegations by journalist Michael Wolff, did not meet editorial standards.
In a post on X, Melania shared the public apology that was issued by the outlet.
“The Daily Beast recently published a story headlined ‘Melania Trump ‘Very Involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author’ based on an interview with Michael Wolff. Upon reflection, we have determined that the article did not meet our standards and has therefore been removed from our platforms,” The Daily Beast said in a statement
“In response to a letter from the first lady’s attorneys, The Daily Beast has also removed a portion of an episode of The Daily Beast Podcast titled ‘Trump’s Epstein Scandal Can’t Stop Won’t Stop’ referencing the first lady,” the statement continued. “The first lady points to her bestselling book Melania as the definitive account of her life story. We apologize to the first lady and our readers.”
When the article was originally retracted in July, the editor’s note affixed to the story did not apologize directly to the first lady or address the claims made by Wolff, per the New York Post.
Allegations made by journalist Michael Wolff
These allegations were initially made by Wolff during an interview with Daily Beast chief content officer Joanna Coles for “The Daily Beast Podcast.” The pair were discussing the president’s alleged connections with Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died in 2019.
Wolff has not responded to request for comment. In July, he told Fox News that he was not involved with the article.
According to the New York Post, Melania’s legal team has been on a “warpath” against outlets and individuals who are repeating Wolff’s claims linking the first lady to Epstein.
Last month, Democratic strategist James Carville had to publicly apologize and scrub an episode of his podcast “Politics War Room” for suggesting a sort of “Epstein connection” involving Melania, after being contacted by the first lady’s lawyers.