Did hunter biden apopogize to melania trump
Executive summary
Hunter Biden did not apologize to First Lady Melania Trump after she demanded a retraction and apology over his public comments linking her to Jeffrey Epstein; in a filmed interview he explicitly refused, using profanity, and doubled down that he was repeating reports he had seen [1] [2]. Media outlets and legal filings show the dispute centers on a removed Daily Beast item and claims attributed to Michael Wolff, and several other figures and outlets have retracted or apologized while Biden has not [3] [4] [5].
1. What triggered the demand: the Epstein claim and a legal letter
The confrontation began after Hunter Biden, in an interview released on YouTube, repeated a claim — which he said he had seen in reporting by author Michael Wolff — that Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania to Donald Trump; Melania’s lawyer Alejandro Brito sent a letter calling the statements “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory” and demanding an immediate retraction and apology or face a lawsuit seeking over $1 billion in damages [1] [3] [6]. The lawyer’s letter also referenced a now-removed Daily Beast article and said its removal and apology showed the underlying reporting was unreliable, a point the letter used to press Biden to recant [3] [2].
2. Biden’s response: blunt refusal on camera
When interviewer Andrew Callaghan presented the cease-and-desist demand and asked Biden if he would apologize, Biden replied on camera, “Uh, fuck that, not going to happen,” and in subsequent clips framed the legal threat as a “designed distraction,” refusing to retract and asserting he was repeating what he had “heard and seen reported” by Wolff and others [1] [5] [7]. Multiple outlets captured the same exchange and reported Biden’s refusal in the same terms, making his non-apology consistent across interviews and reports [2] [8] [7].
3. Media and third-party reactions: retractions, apologies and scrubbed clips
The broader media fallout shows variance: The Daily Beast removed and apologized for its story that referenced Wolff’s claim after receiving a letter from Melania’s attorneys, and commentator James Carville later issued an apology after repeating similar claims; those retractions were cited by Melania’s legal team as evidence the claim lacked support [4] [3] [9]. News organizations from Axios to BBC to Newsweek documented both the legal demand and Biden’s refusal, and outlets noted that some who repeated Wolff’s reporting later walked it back while Biden did not [2] [3] [5].
4. Legal posture and competing narratives
Legally, the letter from Melania’s counsel framed the comments as defamatory and sought a sweeping retraction and apology tied to over $1 billion in claimed damages; Biden’s public posture has been defiant rather than conciliatory, with his team (according to some reports) leaking the letter and characterizing the threat as intimidation — a detail reported by Newsweek citing “sources close to the matter” [5]. At the same time, Biden repeatedly attributed his statement to published reporting rather than presenting it as firsthand knowledge, a fact he invoked when declining to apologize [7] [5].
5. Bottom line and limits of reporting
The bottom line: Hunter Biden did not apologize to Melania Trump; he explicitly refused when asked on camera and publicly declined to issue the retraction and apology demanded in her lawyers’ letter [1] [2]. Reporting shows other actors and outlets who amplified the same claim have issued retractions or apologies, but the available sources do not indicate Hunter Biden ever issued an apology or retraction himself, nor do they provide evidence that he later changed course beyond his filmed refusal [4] [9] [3].