Book publisher HarperCollins UK issued an apology on Tuesday after a recent book made claims that first lady Melania Trump was introduced to her husband through convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The publisher worked with Andrew Lownie, author of “Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York,” to remove “several passages of the book that made unverified claims” about the first lady, according to a statement posted on the social media platform X. Trump also shared the statement on her social media.
“Copies of the book that include those references are being permanently removed from distribution,” the statement reads. “HarperCollins UK apologizes to the first lady.”
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Released on Aug. 14, “Entitled” is an unauthorized biography about Prince Andrew, brother of King Charles III and Epstein associate. An earlier version of the book suggested Epstein “facilitated” Trump meeting with then-businessman President Trump, NBC News reported last month. That early version did not suggest she knew of any illegal activity in connection to Epstein.
The first lady and her lawyers have responded to several claims about how she and the president met over the past several months.
In August, Democratic strategist James Carville apologized and took down a YouTube video where he said Trump met the president through Epstein. She met him at New York’s Kit Kat Klub, according to her memoir.Â
“After the episode, we received a letter from Melania Trump’s lawyer,” Carville said in a subsequent podcast episode. “He took issue with our title of one of those YouTube videos from that episode and a couple of comments I made about the first lady.”
That same month, Melania Trump called on Hunter Biden to retract and apologize for a suggestion he made in July that she and Epstein were linked. The first lady was seeking $1 billion in damages.
In an interview posted to YouTube, online personality Andrew Callaghan held the letter and offered Biden an opportunity to apologize to the first lady.
“Uh, f‑‑‑ that,” Biden responded. “That’s not going to happen.”
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