Donald Trump's wife sues Daily Mail Online over 'escort' reports

Donald Trump's wife sues Daily Mail Online over 'escort' reports
By Euronews
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button
Copy/paste the article video embed link below:Copy to clipboardCopied

Melania Trump, the wife of US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, sued the US-based publisher of the Daily Mail Online and a blogger over stories about her past she believes were “tremendous

ADVERTISEMENT

Melania Trump, the wife of US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, sued the US-based publisher of the Daily Mail Online and a blogger over stories about her past she believes were “tremendously damaging,” her lawyer said in a statement.

The Daily Mail retracted a story in a posting on its website on Thursday.

“To the extent that anything in the Daily Mail’s article was interpreted as stating or suggesting that Mrs. Trump worked as an ‘escort’ or in the ‘sex business’… is hereby retracted, and the Daily Mail newspaper regrets any such misinterpretation.

Worth noting per Melania Trump's lawsuit against the Daily Mail, this statute is on the books in Maryland pic.twitter.com/QBffHvT7t5

— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) September 1, 2016

A Daily Mail story last month cited a Slovenian magazine’s report that a modeling agency that Trump worked with in New York in the 1990s also served as an escort business, linking wealthy clients with women for sexual services.

Trump had notified the British newspaper and other news organizations on August 22 that she would take legal action, Trump’s attorney, Charles Harder, said in an email at the time, calling the reports “outright lying.”

“These defendants made several statements about Mrs. Trump that are 100 percent false and tremendously damaging to her personal and professional reputation,” he said in a statement on Thursday. The lawsuit was filed in state circuit court in Montgomery County, Maryland.

The lawsuit alleges that the Maryland blogger, Webster Griffin Tarpley, published “false and defamatory statements” about Trump, including that the former model had suffered from “a full-blown nervous breakdown.”

“Defendants’ actions are so egregious, malicious and harmful to Mrs. Trump that her damages are estimated at 150 million dollars,” her lawyer’s statement said.

Meet the lawyer representing Hulk Hogan and Melania Trump who shuns the limelight https://t.co/asggxTNwYnpic.twitter.com/19JWbSeCKd

— Financial Times (@FT) August 26, 2016

Tarpley said in a statement that the lawsuit is “without merit.”

“We are confident that Mrs. Trump will not be able to meet her high burden of proving the statements published about her on my website were defamatory in any way,” he said.

Reuters

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Trump and Biden romp to victory in Super Tuesday primaries

Trump wins North Dakota contest ahead of Super Tuesday

Nikki Haley clinches first 2024 victory in Republican primary