A one-time assistant to Jeffrey Epstein told the FBI effectively under penalty of perjury that the pedophile introduced Donald Trump to his wife Melania, a newly released document shows.
The unnamed woman, a former model who worked as Epstein’s assistant for a year from 2005 to 2006, made the claim in July 2019, three days after her old boss was arrested by the FBI and charged with child sex trafficking. The 11-page, heavily redacted document was published in Friday’s dump of three million Epstein files and uncovered on Monday.
The woman’s claim contradicts Melania Trump’s memoir’s version of her meet-cute with her billionaire husband, as well as what he has said about how they became a couple. The White House pointed to a previous warning from the Department of Justice that the Epstein files may contain untrue information.
Last year, the first lady threatened to sue longtime Trump biographer Michael Wolff for $1 billion after he said in an episode of The Daily Beast Podcast that she was “very involved” in Epstein’s social circle. Wolff had said that Trump and Melania met in 1998 through Paolo Zampolli, Melania’s agent at the time. The author responded to the threat by launching a lawsuit against the first lady, using free speech laws to accuse her of attempting to unlawfully silence him. Melania Trump is trying to have the lawsuit struck down by claiming she has not been properly served.
The bombshell claim about the couple’s origin story appeared in an FBI record dated November 2019, which details a July interview with a woman whose name was redacted—and who was given immunity to speak. The document is heavily redacted and suggests that the woman was treated as a victim of sexual assault, as well as a witness who offered horrific details of Epstein’s regime of sexual assault at on his private island.
The interview was with both FBI agents and career federal prosecutors, and is recorded as a “proffer agreement.” A “proffer” is when a witness gives evidence they assert is truthful in return for an agreement not to be prosecuted, or some other limited form of immunity. The document does not say what she was offered immunity from. Making a false statement to the FBI can lead to up to five years in prison.
The woman said she had been modeling when she took a job offered by Epstein around 2005. She spent about a year traveling with him as his assistant, with her last assignment being a trip to Paris in 2006.
“[Redacted] put [redacted] in contact with an agent named PAOLO ZEMPOLI who worked with ‘ID Models,’” the second page of the document began. It appeared to be referring to Paolo Zampolli, Melania’s former modelling agent, whom Trump appointed as special envoy for global partnerships last year.
Several lines of text were redacted before continuing: “ZEMPOLI was trying to buy Elite Models with EPSTEIN. EPSTEIN introduced MELANIA TRUMP to DONALD TRUMP.”
The 11-page document included details of the woman’s employment under Epstein, and her own victimization, including an instance where she recalled “being tearful in the car” after the late pedophile “took a ‘vibrating thing’ and rubbed it on her.”
The woman’s claim contradicts years of reports crediting Zampolli with introducing Melania to Trump during a party he hosted at the Kit Kat Club in 1998. It also goes against the 55-year-old first lady’s eponymous memoir published in 2024.
“I saw my friend wave at someone behind me. When I turned around, I noticed a man and an attractive blonde woman approaching us,” she wrote. “‘Hi. I’m Donald Trump,’ the man said when he reached my table. ‘Nice to meet you.’ I recognized the name, and I knew he was a businessman or celebrity, but not much else. He put his hand out to shake mine.”
“‘Hello,’ I replied. ‘I’m Melania.’ His eyes filled with curiosity and interest, and, seizing the opportunity, he took the seat next to mine and started a conversation.”
In a 2005 interview with CNN’s Larry King, the then-newlyweds recounted their first meeting.
“Did you like her right away?” the legendary host asked Trump.
“I went crazy,” he replied. “I was actually supposed to meet somebody else. There was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania. I was supposed to meet the supermodel, and they were saying, ‘Look, there’s so and so.’ I said, ‘Forget about her. Who’s the one on the left?’ and it was Melania.”
Zampolli is now the State Department’s “special envoy for global partnerships.” The Italian-born former model agent has long been a fixture in Trump’s circle.
The threat to sue Wolff was not the only one which Melania’s attorneys have made. She also threatened to sue Hunter Biden for $1 billion after he cited Wolff’s claims in an interview.
When asked about the threat to sue Hunter, Trump told Fox News in April 2025 that the disgraced financier, who was his close friend for years, had “nothing to do” with Melania. “Jeffrey Epstein had nothing to do with Melania and introducing [us]. But they do that to demean—they make up stories,” he said. “I mean, I can tell you exactly how it was: It was another person, actually. I did meet [her] through another person, but it wasn’t Jeffrey Epstein.”
The Daily Beast retracted a story based on Wolff’s statements on the podcast, writing in an editor’s note that “the First Lady points to her best-selling book Melania as the definitive account of her life story.”
A White House official pointed the Daily Beast to a January press release from the Justice Department when asked for comment about the FBI document that appeared in the Epstein files.
“This production may include fake or falsely submitted images, documents or videos, as everything that was sent to the FBI by the public was included in the production that is responsive to the Act,” it read. “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
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