() Who introduced Donald Trump to Melania? It’s been a hot topic of debate since Hunter Biden alleged that it was Jeffrey Epstein. But that doesn’t match what Trump himself said when he first talked publicly about dating Melania.

At the time Donald Trump was ready to go public that he was dating the future first lady, he told the New York Post that it was Paolo Zampolli who introduced them, according to ’s Paula Froelich, who was in the room at the time the call came in.

Froelich says Zampolli also told her multiple times that he’d introduced Trump and Melania. Zampolli was the owner of the modeling agency where Melania (then known as Melania Knauss) was a model.

Multiple news outlets also reported that Zampolli introduced the couple at a party in 1998.

Legal fight after Hunter Biden’s claim

Hunter Biden said in an interview on “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan” that it was Jeffrey Epstein who introduced the couple, citing biographer Michael Wolff.

Melania Trump’s lawyers responded with a letter to Hunter Biden demanding he “immediately retract the false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements made about Mrs. Trump” as well as “immediately issue an apology.”  

Thursday, Biden responded by saying he won’t apologize and would not retract the comments.

“F— that. That’s not going to happen,” Biden said of Melania Trump’s demand.

Zampolli has a career in diplomacy

Zampolli has been a member of the board of the Kennedy Center since he was appointed in 2021. He has also worked in several roles with the United Nations and currently serves as a special envoy of the president of the United States of America for global partnerships

He’s had roles working with the governments of Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Grenada among others.

He also served as the director of international development in the Trump Organization in the mid-2000s.