Melania Trump Sued by Journalist Michael Wolff Over Epstein Threat Letter

Melania Trump is being dragged into a legal battle with journalist Michael Wolff -- who has filed a lawsuit accusing the First Lady of threatening to take legal action against him over public statements he made linking her to late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

According to new court documents, obtained by TMZ, Wolff says Melania sent him the October 15 letter demanding he "immediately retract" certain comments he made to the Daily Beast for an article that ran on the news outlet's website.

Wolff told the Daily Beast ... Melania was "very involved" in the Epstein scandal and could be the missing link in President Trump's ties to Epstein, among other things.

In the letter, Melania's attorneys promised to "initiate legal action against Wolff for over $1 billion in damages" if he failed to issue a retraction and make a full apology to the First Lady.

Melania's lawyers said Wolff had until yesterday to make good on their demands ... but Wolff chose to file suit against Melania instead. Wolff argues in his suit that he's done nothing to defame Melania because he did not write the Daily Beast article or headline -- and some of his statements were taken out of context by the reporter.