George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley is warning that Hunter Biden’s refusal to back down in his battle with first lady Melania Trump could prove disastrous.
The feud stems from Biden’s explosive claims during an appearance on “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan,” where he alleged that Melania Trump first met Donald Trump through the late human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Melania’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, responded swiftly on August 6, threatening a $1 billion lawsuit for what he called Biden’s “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements.”
Turley, appearing on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, said Biden’s hardline stance is setting him up for serious legal and financial trouble.
“In the notice letter, they said they would be seeking $1 billion and I can say right now without discovery [that] he doesn’t have it. That’s a lot of paintings that he would have to move and their value has gone down dramatically since he left office,” Turley said.
“The fact is that the first lady has succeeded in getting several news outlets to retract this story. They really go after the source, this author named [Michael] Wolff who has been repeatedly challenged in terms of the accuracy of things he has written about the Trump family [and] the Trump administration … So this is not exactly welcome news for Hunter Biden,” Turley added.
The allegations Biden repeated originated with Wolff, a biographer whose reporting on the Trumps has long drawn criticism. Wolff claimed Melania had close ties to Epstein and was introduced to Donald Trump in 1998 through Paolo Zampolli, founder of ID Models, who was connected to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
But Melania’s legal team has aggressively denied those claims and pressured outlets to walk them back. The Daily Beast, which ran a July 30 story with the headline “Melania Trump Was ‘Very Involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author,” retracted the piece and issued an apology after receiving a legal warning. Political strategist James Carville also admitted error, announcing on his Aug. 7 Politics War Room podcast that he deleted a video referencing Wolff’s claims and apologized for his remarks.
Biden, however, remains defiant. On the most recent episode of “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan,” he flatly dismissed the idea of apologizing.
“F**k that. That’s not gonna happen,” Biden said when asked about retracting his comments.
Doubling down, Biden characterized Brito’s letter as a “distraction” meant to deflect from Epstein’s victims, adding that Melania’s legal team was attempting to intimidate him.
“I also think they’re bullies,” Biden said. “And they think that a billion dollars is going to scare me … I have this to say to them: if they want to sit down for a deposition and clarify the nature of the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein, if the president and the first lady want to do that, and all of the known associates around them at the time of whatever time that they met — I’m more than happy to provide them the platform to be able to do it.”
Turley stressed that courts will likely take a harder view of Biden’s statements than he does. While public figures like Melania face a higher bar in defamation cases — having to prove “actual malice” under the Supreme Court’s New York Times v. Sullivan standard— Turley argued that Biden’s refusal to retract could be used as evidence against him.
“You don’t double down when others are retracting,” he said, adding that Biden’s comments could be seen as reckless disregard for the truth.
If Brito files suit, Biden could face years of expensive litigation, massive damages, and further scrutiny of his personal finances. Turley made clear that the financial stakes are enormous.
“That’s a lot of paintings that he would have to move,” he quipped, “and their value has gone down dramatically since he left office.”
For now, Melania’s legal team has not backed off its billion-dollar demand, while Biden insists he won’t be intimidated.
