Melania Trump has filed a $150 million lawsuit against Daily Mail for an article they published that alluded to reports that she was an escort both in New York City and her native Slovenia.
The article in question only pointed to allegations that others have made about Melania, including claims that she was running an escort service of her own, but that was enough to sue for libel according to her lawyer, Charles Harder. If that name is ringing a bell it's because that's the same guy who defended Hulk Hogan in his highly publicized lawsuit against Gawker.
The Daily Mail has since retracted the article and they further addressed the situation yesterday with the following statement:
"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,' that she had a 'composite or presentation card for the sex business,' or that either of the modeling agencies referenced in the article were engaged in these businesses, it is hereby retracted, and the Daily Mail newspaper regrets any such misinterpretation."
The blogger who wrote the piece, Webster G. Tarpley, is also being sued by the Trump camp but he released a much more aggressive response to the news- saying the lawsuit is a blatant attempt to intimidate him.
“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. Her lawsuit is a blatant attempt to intimidate not only me but journalists of all stripes into remaining silent with regard to public figures. This lawsuit is a direct affront to First Amendment principles and free speech in our democratic society.”
[Via]
