It’s Valentine’s Day, and time to acknowledge that the First Couple have a contested “meet cute” story.
The official story?
Donald Trump and Melania Knauss (now Trump) first met in September 1998 at a New York Fashion Week party hosted by Paolo Zampolli, an Italian modeling agent and businessman who had signed Melania to his agency (ID Models) earlier that year. Zampolli has consistently claimed credit for the introduction, and both Donald and Melania Trump have publicly corroborated this account over the years, including in Melania’s 2024 memoir Melania (where she describes the meeting at the Kit Kat Club). At the time, Trump was 52 and still legally married to Marla Maples (their divorce finalized in 1999), though he attended the event with another date, Norwegian heiress Celina Midelfart. Melania, then 28, reportedly refused to give Trump her number initially but called him later, leading to their first date.
But that is not how Whitney Webb tells the tale.
Author of the two-volume One Nation Under Blackmail (2022), Ms. Webb has appeared on several podcasts noting that Jeffrey Epstein’s modeling ties (via Ghislaine Maxwell’s recruitment and Les Wexner’s Victoria’s Secret empire) allowed Epstein to leverage “beautiful women” for influence, including potential matchmaking. She has alleged Epstein’s operations included procuring young women for elite men, sometimes under the guise of legitimate modeling or social introductions, naming Melania as having been “allegedly” introduced to Trump by Epstein.
So where are such allegations?
In the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) release of over 3.5 million pages of Epstein-related documents in phases starting in late 2025, culminating in a massive January 30, 2026, dump, as mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed by the president. These include FBI interviews, emails, flight logs, and much more from investigations into Epstein’s sex trafficking as well as Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2020–2022 trial.
An 11-page FBI report from August 2025 quotes a former Epstein assistant (who worked for him 2005–2006) stating that Epstein “introduced MELANIA TRUMP to DONALD TRUMP.” This directly contradicts the Zampolli story and suggests Epstein played a matchmaking role. The assistant’s identity is redacted.
Not so cutely met. If true.
Melania and Donald married on January 22, 2005.