Reported By WJ: Melania Trump agreed to settle for a “substantial sum” her defamation lawsuit against a blogger suggested she once worked as a high-end prostitute and suffered a nervous breakdown after last summer’s Republican convention.
Maryland Blogger Webster Tarpley “has issued the attached retraction and apology to Mrs. Trump and her family, and agreed to pay her a substantial sum as a settlement,” Matthew Blackett, one of Mrs. Trump’s attorney, said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Tarpley issued this statement: “I posted an article on Aug. 2, 2016 about Melania Trump that was replete with false and defamatory statements about her. I had no legitimate factual basis to make these false statements and I fully retract them.”
He added, “I acknowledge that these false statements were very harmful and hurtful to Mrs. Trump and her family, and therefore I sincerely apologize to Mrs. Trump, her son, her husband and her parents for making these false statements.”
While Trump’s lawsuit targeting Tarpley is now settled, she refiled another in New York on Monday against the UK-based Daily Mail, whose parent company is Mail Media, Inc.
The news outlet ran a story last August also suggesting Trump worked as a high-end escort in the 1990s.
The filing further states the first lady planned to launch a product line at some point in the future, which the false story damaged.
“Plaintiff had the unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person, as well as a former professional model and brand spokesperson, and successful businesswoman, to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which Plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world,” the suit says.
JUST FILED: First Lady Melania Trump sues Daily Mail in NY Supreme Court over “salacious and highly offensive statements about her” pic.twitter.com/vwj0sDmgKc
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) February 6, 2017
Dantheman