Melania Is Unleashing Revenge Dogs on Me: Biographer
Michael Wolff says he was tipped off about Melania Trump’s new legal revenge move due to an embarrassing blunder by one of her husband’s lawyers.
Michael Wolff says Melania Trump is launching a new retaliatory legal move against him over his comments about her and Jeffrey Epstein—even though a federal judge has already reprimanded the first lady over the tactic.
A Trump-appointed federal judge threw out Wolff’s lawsuit against Melania in May, but the first lady is now asking the court to sanction the longtime Donald Trump biographer over “factual misrepresentations, frivolous legal arguments and bad-faith conduct.”
Wolff, 72, had sued Melania, 56, in a so-called anti-SLAPP suit designed to protect freedom of the press, after she threatened to sue him for $1 billion over his remarks about the Trump family’s ties to Epstein, including a claim that Melania may have met Trump through the pedophile’s social circle.

Wolff sued Melania under laws designed to protect freedom of the press in Oct. 2025 after she threatened to sue him for allegations which included that she met Donald Trump in Epstein’s social circle and that Trump first slept with Melania on Epstein’s private jet. A federal judge threw out Wolff’s case in May.
Davidoff Studios/Getty Images
“Essentially, they are moving to sanction my lawyers for doing nothing more than bringing the lawsuit against Melania Trump,” Wolff said on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast. “So this is preposterous on its face.”
He continued that the move is “another... kind of thing that comes with all of Trump-style... litigation, which is you do everything, no matter how... sordid and not respectable... and bound to be thrown out of court, you do this stuff to cost your opponents more money and to cause delay.”

Michael Wolff has written four books about Trump and his administrations: ‘Fire and Fury,’ ‘Siege,’ ‘Landslide,’ and ‘All or Nothing.’
NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via
However, Melania’s effort to sanction Wolff has stumbled out of the gate: The same judge who threw out the author’s lawsuit rebuked the first lady’s revenge move on Wednesday.
Get the best of The Beast delivered right to your inbox
By clicking “SUBSCRIBE” you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
“I wonder if it’s in the interest of the parties to continue litigating in this court,” District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil told Melania’s lawyers, according to Courthouse News Service.
Vyskocil, a longtime Federalist Society member appointed in New York’s Southern District by Trump in his first term, said the motion for a Section 11 sanction faces a high bar, adding that Melania must demonstrate “clear evidence” that Wolff’s lawsuit was brought baselessly and in bad faith.

District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil—a Trump appointee—threw out Wolff’s lawsuit in May, saying that the author was attempting to litigate a dispute before a lawsuit had formally been filed.
Southern District of New York
“I think sometimes people get so caught up in the fervor of the moment that they don’t really stop and think about the cost-benefit analysis of motions that are contemplated and the burden you put a court to,” she was quoted saying.
Melania’s lawyers, who said they are seeking sanctions “sufficient to deter repetition and to compensate Mrs. Trump for the costs imposed by their misconduct,” indicated that they plan to move forward with the motion.
Wolff told co-host Joanna Coles that he had known since January that Melania’s lawyers would file a motion to sanction him due to a Signalgate-like mistake by the president’s personal lawyer.
“On January 26th of this year, I got a text... from the president’s personal lawyer, a man by the name of Boris Epshteyn, and the text said, ‘Hey team, what’s our timing on the Section 11 filing?’” Wolff said.
Coles quipped, “And I’m assuming that you weren’t part of the team.”
“I was not part of the team,” the author said. “I am in Boris Epshteyn’s address book because he’s... a frequent off-the-record chatterer... and as can happen, he was thinking about me and writing a text about me, but it wasn’t supposed to go to me.”
He added that “the more important thing” is that Epshteyn’s mistake revealed that his lawsuit against Melania “was being coordinated at the highest levels of Trump law.”
Representatives for Melania and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Find and subscribe to Inside Trump’s Head with Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes of incomparable insight into the psyche of the world’s most talked-about man drop every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evening on YouTube and Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday mornings on other podcast platforms.
Unlock a year of full access to The Looker and The Daily Beast for $35.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Looker and The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
Sign in
Login dialog


ADVERTISEMENT
Sign in or create an account
Login dialog
Loading comments…
ADVERTISEMENT