Former modelling agent who introduced Trump to Melania fired from State Department after bizarre emails and child custody drama

Paolo Zampolli is a minor but important figure in the ongoing Donald Trump saga. The Italian-born former modeling agent is best known for being the man who introduced Trump to Melania at a New York Fashion Week party in the late 1990s, but has quietly risen into positions of political power in both of Trump’s terms.

In 2020, Zampolli was appointed by Trump to the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees and, in January 2021, was briefly on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. In the second administration, Zampolli was at the State Department and dubbed himself the “Special Envoy to Italy,” though this was not an official title.

Since then, he’s been very close to the presidency while working at the State Department. Zampolli was part of the American delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos, accompanied JD Vance on an official trip to Hungary, and even reportedly pressured Trump to kick Iran out of the World Cup and replace them with Italy.

“Your threats and accusations are getting more and more bizarre, defamatory, and inappropriate”

Now he’s been unceremoniously fired in what sounds like some very messy drama. As per Politico, Zampolli has been embroiled in a “months-long feud” with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau over email, with many senior government officials cc’d into their arguments. This reportedly culminated in a bombshell interview in which Zampolli said, “everything I did, [Landau] tried to destroy it.”

Zampolli’s fury with Landau appears to stem from a story leaked to the New York Times in March 2026. That story alleged that Zampolli had been attempting to use his political sway to get ICE to deport the mother of his son, Amanda Ungaro, to Brazil in the hopes that this would let him gain full custody.

Zampolli denied everything, saying Landau had leaked the story. Landau denied that, telling the Times: “Your threats and accusations are getting more and more bizarre, defamatory, and inappropriate for broad dissemination on email. I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Zampolli’s emails were dismissed as “unhinged” and now he’s been fired, with Politico quoting an official who said that he’s “been terminated and he is no longer a government employee.” Zampolli released a statement, saying: “Serving [President Donald Trump] and the United States has been the greatest honor of my life. I am deeply grateful to President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and the entire team,” but also reportedly admitted (per Politico) that he had “absolute zero surprise” that he’d been fired.