The author Michael Wolff has had his lawsuit against Melania Trump thrown out by a federal judge appointed by her husband.
Wolff, the co-host of the hit Daily Beast podcast Inside Trump’s Head, had sued the first lady under laws designed to protect freedom of the press, after she threatened to sue him for $1 billion.
The best-selling Trump biographer filed a so-called anti-SLAPP lawsuit in Oct. 2025 after receiving a legal threat from the first lady over comments he made about her and Jeffrey Epstein. Melania threatened to sue him for allegations which included that she met Donald Trump in Epstein’s social circle, that Trump liked to have sex with his friends’ wives, that he first slept with Melania on Epstein’s private jet, and that she played a part in her husband’s handling of the Epstein files.
Some of these allegations were contained in bombshell recordings of Epstein himself.
Wolff said he had never accused the first lady of involvement in Epstein’s criminal conduct and argued that some of the remarks were constitutionally protected opinions.
SLAPP stands for “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” a legal expression for the powerful and rich using the courts to silence free speech.
States, including New York, have introduced anti-SLAPP laws to protect free expression.
Wolff said in his suit that the first lady’s lawyers’ threat to sue him for $1 billion was subject to New York’s anti-SLAPP laws. Wolff filed the suit to get a ruling that his statements, including those on Inside Trump’s Head, were protected speech, which would have made Melania subject to damages if she had sued. He raised $800,000 in small-dollar donations from backers to sue the wealthy Trump.
Trump’s attorneys claimed that the threats did not rise to the level of a lawsuit subject to New York state’s anti-SLAPP laws. The first lady’s attorneys had the case moved to federal court, claiming that she did not live in New York but in Florida.
Late Friday, U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil—a Trump appointee—issued a 45-page ruling after months of delay, saying that Wolff was attempting to litigate a dispute before a lawsuit had formally been filed.
“Plaintiff asks for a declaration that, if the first lady sues him, he deserves to win. That is not how the federal courts work,” Vyskocil, 68, a longtime Federalist Society member, wrote.
Wolff had not put the case into federal court, however; that was done by Trump. Her ruling did not determine whether Melania actually lives in Florida, as she had claimed.
The judge, however, attacked both sides in the case, criticizing what she described as “an inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship.”
“The court will not be conscripted to oversee an abusively presented spat,” Vyskocil wrote.
In his complaint, Wolff argued that the Trump family and its allies had made a habit of using legal threats to intimidate critics in “North Korea”-style tactics.
The legal threat that triggered Wolff’s lawsuit came in a letter from Alejandro Brito, Melania Trump’s attorney, warning that the first lady would be “left with no alternative” but to sue if he refused to retract statements her legal team said caused “overwhelming reputational and financial harm.”
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Nick Clemens, a spokesperson for Melania Trump, told NBC News she “is proud to continue standing up to, and fighting against, those who spread malicious and defamatory falsehoods as they desperately try to get undeserved attention and money from their unlawful conduct.”
In April, the first lady made a dramatic, surprise statement at the White House, finally addressing Epstein.
“Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach,” she said.
“I have never been friends with Epstein.”
