A former associate of First Lady Melania Trump has alleged in a recorded message that Melania worked as an “escort” for Jeffrey Epstein and was introduced to President Donald Trump by the late sex offender — a claim that directly contradicts the official narrative of the couple’s 1998 meeting that has long been embraced by MAGA loyalists. The recording, posted to X on June 1, 2026, and since deleted, has thrust the first lady back into the center of the long-running Epstein saga.
The accuser, former Brazilian model Amanda Ungaro, aimed her message squarely at her estranged partner, modeling agent-turned-presidential envoy Paolo Zampolli. For more than two decades, Zampolli has been credited with introducing Melania Knauss to Donald Trump at a New York party in 1998 — a story now woven into the lore of the Trump marriage. Ungaro says it isn’t true.
“Let’s tell the public you never was the one introducing Melania to Trump. It was Jeffrey Epstein, as she was escort of Jeffrey Epstein. That’s how she met Donald Trump,” Ungaro says in the WhatsApp recording, first reported by The Age political correspondent Farrah Tomazin.
A Bitter Split Spills Into Public View
Ungaro and Zampolli have been locked in a bitter custody battle since late 2025, and the recording appears to be a private ultimatum gone public. Addressing her ex directly, she added that she had spent 20 years at his side and was told the truth privately all along.
Zampolli, who now serves as Special Envoy for Global Partnerships and sits on the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, forcefully denied the claim. “I think it is a disgrace that she dares to say this about our marvelous first lady,” he told reporters, adding that he was “truly concerned for her health” and believed she “needs some therapy.”
Ungaro has further suggested that Zampolli was “covering” for Melania Trump — and she for him — after he was elevated to a position of power within the administration. She has also accused him of using his Washington influence to engineer her arrest by U.S. immigration authorities in October 2025, a charge Zampolli and the Department of Homeland Security strongly deny.
The First Lady’s April Pre-Emptive Strike
The new allegation cuts against statements Melania Trump made during a surprise press conference on April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House — remarks that appeared to catch even the president off guard. Standing alone at the podium, the first lady denounced what she called “mean-spirited and politically motivated lies” and declared that “the lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today.”
“I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband, by chance, at a New York City party in 1998. This initial encounter with my husband is documented in detail in my book, MELANIA,” she told reporters. She added that her first crossing of paths with Epstein came in 2000, at an event she attended with the future president.
The first lady also called for public hearings into the Epstein controversy and urged Congress to allow survivors to testify. The timing of her statement was never fully explained, though it coincided with a series of posts from Ungaro appearing as replies to Melania Trump’s archived first lady account, threatening to “expose everything that I know.”
A Web of Mar-a-Lago Connections
Ungaro’s own history with Epstein’s world is documented. She was 17 when she boarded the financier’s private jet — the so-called “Lolita Express” — for a flight from Paris to New York in June 2002. She was accompanied by her then-agent, French modeling scout Jean-Luc Brunel, later identified as a recruiter for Epstein.
For years, Ungaro and Zampolli moved through the same social circles as the Trumps and were photographed alongside Donald and Melania Trump at Mar-a-Lago events. A widely circulated image from 2000 shows the couple posing with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Palm Beach club.
Justice Department files released earlier in 2026 added to the scrutiny. Among the materials were emails appearing to show Melania Trump complimenting Maxwell on an October 2002 New York Magazine profile of Epstein. “Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great on the picture,” the message read, signed “Love, Melania.” The first lady characterized the exchange as "casual correspondence." A former assistant to Epstein also told the FBI that the financier introduced Trump and Melania, according to materials reviewed by congressional investigators.
Legal Threats and a Billion-Dollar Fight
The DOJ files also contained multiple emails between Epstein and journalist Michael Wolff, who is engaged in civil litigation with Melania Trump over his Epstein reporting. Her attorneys have threatened legal action seeking more than a billion dollars in damages, calling Wolff’s statements “false, disparaging, defamatory, and inflammatory.” The first lady has also amplified a Daily Beast statement retracting a story based on Wolff’s claims.
For now, the White House and the Office of the First Lady have not commented on Ungaro’s recording. But with the X post already viewed widely before its deletion, and with Ungaro publicly volunteering to testify before Congress, the questions Melania Trump tried to bury in April have only multiplied.