Another media misstep has hit the headlines with the Daily Beast yanking a story that tried to tie First Lady Melania Trump to the notorious Jeffrey Epstein through a questionable modeling connection.
The Daily Beast recently pulled an article alleging a link between Melania Trump and Donald Trump’s past friendship with Epstein, only to backtrack after legal pushback from Melania’s attorney over the story’s framing.
Fox News reported that this saga kicked off when journalist Michael Wolff, during a podcast with the Daily Beast’s chief content officer Joanna Coles, spun a tale about Melania being introduced to Donald Trump via a modeling agent tied to Epstein.
Wolff boldly stated, “Epstein knows her well,” suggesting a deep connection, but let’s be honest—his track record for accuracy isn’t exactly sterling.
The Daily Beast, perhaps sensing the legal heat, issued an editor’s note stating they regretted “any confusion” and promptly removed the piece, redirecting the link to a placeholder page admitting the story’s withdrawal.
Melania’s legal team didn’t mince words, challenging the headline and overall spin, which forced the outlet to reconsider its approach to such explosive, yet thinly sourced, claims.
Now, let’s not ignore the broader context—Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were indeed friends for years before a falling out, with Trump later accusing Epstein of poaching staff from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Epstein, a disgraced financier, ended his own life in a Manhattan prison while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving minors, a dark chapter that continues to fuel speculation.
Trump’s base, hungry for transparency, has been clamoring for the release of so-called “Epstein files,” only to be frustrated by empty promises and binders labeled “Phase One” from Attorney General Pam Bondi that contained no fresh revelations.
This lack of new information sparked an outcry among Trump’s online supporters, who felt misled, while Bondi later clarified her comments about an Epstein “client list” were merely about the file itself, not some hidden roster.
The Department of Justice added fuel to the skepticism with a brief memo denying any “client list” existed and stating there was no credible evidence Epstein blackmailed anyone through his trafficking activities.
Yet, the demand for answers hasn’t waned among Trump’s supporters, leaving the president visibly frustrated with what he’s called a Democratic “hoax” peddled to distract from real issues.
Trump himself vented on TruthSocial, blasting the fixation as “bullshit” and dismissing those obsessed with it as falling for left-wing tricks, a sharp rebuke to even his past backers.
Meanwhile, Wolff’s credibility remains under scrutiny—past controversies, like his insinuations in “Fire and Fury” about Nikki Haley, which she called “disgusting,” and his messy “Morning Joe” interview, paint a picture of a storyteller more than a reporter, as one critic noted his scenes seem “springing from imagination.”