Of this trio, one committed suicide after once serving time for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute and facing dozens of charges, including sex trafficking of minors, that might have seen him locked up for life. Another has been found liable for sexual assault and has been accused over two dozen times of sex related events, including sexual assault and rape of a minor. Very little is known of the third’s personal life before connecting with the first two.
Melania Knauss began working as a model at age 16. Born Melania Knavs in Yugoslavia, she changed her name and worked some in Paris and Milan before meeting Paolo Zampolli; Zampolli hired her and sponsored her immigration to the United States in 1996. Knauss initially entered the U.S. on a travel visa that didn’t allow her to work, though she did ten modeling jobs during that time. Melania was already 26 when she came to America, much older than most aspiring models. Zampolli advised Knauss to enter the fashion world. Zampolli arranged for her to share an apartment with photographer Matthew Atanian in Zeckendorf Towers in Union Square. Her rent was taken from her pay with Zampolli’s agency.
Melania then received an H-1B visa that allowed her to work. Her first major job was posing for a Camel cigarette ad shot by Ellen von Unwerth, which was displayed as a Times Square billboard and featured in Rolling Stone. The opportunity arose from a law that required cigarette ads to feature only individuals above the age of 25, which excluded most aspiring models. When her roommate, Atanian, left New York, Melania moved to an apartment off Park Avenue.
When Melania came to New York, Zampolli was transitioning from fashion to real estate. He still owned ID Models, which he had formed in the mid-1990s, and later partnered with The Trump Organization as its Director of International Development. One of the unique ways Zampolli utilized the models was to aid him in selling real estate in the New York market. There is no record of Melania Trump ever having a real estate license.
There are two versions of how Melania Knauss met Donald Trump. Zambolli claims he introduced them at the Kit Kat Club during New York Fashion Week in 1998. Zambolli was asked about this because Jeffrey Epstein, before his troubles with the law and falling out with Trump, claimed that he had introduced Melania to Trump. That implies he knew Melania before Trump did. Zambolli denied that Epstein introduced the pair in a 2019 interview. Melanis tells a version involving neither Zambolli nor Epstein.
At that 1998 party, Donald was still married to his second wife, Marla Maples, and there on a date with Norwegian heiress Celina Midelfart. Trump asked Melania for her number, but out of some sense of decorum, she refused, instead asking Trump for his number. In that version, Melania called Trump a couple of weeks later, beginning a several-year relationship culminating in their January 2005 marriage.
Trump’s marriage to Marla Maples was rocky to say the least. She should have known what she was getting into, as she had cheated with Trump during his first marriage to Ivana Trump. Trump’s affairs, including with Maples, were often tabloid fodder, including when Trump claimed Marla said he was the “Best Sex I Ever Had.” Trump instigated the headline after an article ran favorably to Ivana during their very public breakup. Apparently, Trump wasn’t the best as stories ran about Marla’s entanglements with singer Michael Bolton and bodyguard Spencer Wagner, who first denied, then later admitted the affair.
“He put his hands all over my breasts, my waist, my butt,” said Stacey Williams.
When Epstein and Trump were friends, they seemed to have a peculiar rivalry regarding women. Stacey Williams was a former Sports Illustrated model who dated Jeffrey Epstein in the early 1990s. She claims she and Epstein were walking in Manhattan and he suggested they “drop in” on his friend Donald. Inside Trump’s Trump Tower office, Williams told of how Trump assaulted her in full view of his staff.
“He pulled me into him and started groping me," said Williams. "He put his hands all over my breasts, my waist, my butt, and I froze. And I froze because I was so deeply confused about what was happening, because the hands were moving all over me, yet these two men were like, smiling at one another and continuing on in their conversation.”
“They were best friends. I dated Jeffrey for a period of more or less, I think about four or five months, and the only friend that he would mention every time we saw each other or had a phone conversation was Donald.”
In 2017, two years before Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell, he did a recorded interview with Michael Wolff for his book, “Fire and Fury.” Trump-Epstein Friendship Ended Over Mansion: Report. There are multiple versions as to why the bro’s parted. One version is that it was during a fight over the purchase of a mansion. Another was that Epstein found out Trump was a crook, and a third involved Trump’s response to a complaint that Epstein was using Mar-a-Lago as a hunting ground for young girls. One might ask what young girls were doing at Mar-a-Lago in the first place?
Trump won the auction of the property for $41.35 million. Two weeks later, police responded to an anonymous tip that young girls were often seen leaving Epstein’s Palm Beach estate at night. One might wonder if Trump had anything to do with the tip?
During the interview with Wolff, Epstein claimed (on tape) that he’d been Donald Trump’s best friend for ten years and that he was the one who introduced Melania to Donald. He also claimed the first time Melania and Donald had sex was on his plane, nicknamed the “Lolita Express.” Melania denies ever having flown on the aircraft, though Donald appears in the flight logs seven times. There is no mention of Melania in the notoriously incomplete flight logs.
Epstein claimed Trump loved to sleep with his friends' wives and had been a serial cheater in all of his marriages. He also mentions Trump had a scalp reduction surgery for baldness, which I only add because I’m petty. Trump didn’t treat Melania any better than Ivana or Marla, as evidenced by the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal affairs. There have been unsubstantiated rumors about Melania, which may well be untrue, but they do add to the messiness.
Melania was possibly too old for Epstein when she arrived in America at 26, but then again, Ghislaine Maxwell is 6 and 1/2 years older. I found no evidence that Epstein knew Melania first to support his claim that he introduced her to Trump. Still, there is almost no information about her relationships before Donald, as if her slate was wiped clean.
The messiness surrounding Trump, Epstein, and possibly Melania is unlikely to be resolved. The current focus on the Epstein Files and his client list is only sharpening. The Wall Street Journal is being sued for $10 billion for reporting on a birthday letter Trump sent to Epstein in 2003, when they were friends. Everything about the Trump/Epstein relationship is being scrutinized, and Melania may well catch some strays. The Journal likely has ample documentation to prove what Trump denies. Stay tuned, it’s bound to get messier.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.