Melania Trump Wanted $150M From Tabloid, Got $3M

Settlement with 'Daily Mail' paper and site did get her retractions and an apology, though
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 12, 2017 8:20 AM CDT
Melania Trump Wanted $150M From Tabloid, Got $3M
On Wednesday, Melania Trump accepted an apology and damages from the publisher of the 'Daily Mail' newspaper for reporting rumors about her time as a model.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Melania Trump just made the Daily Mail and Mail Online pay up on her libel claims. Per the Guardian, the newspaper and website have apologized and fully retracted and withdrawn "false and defamatory" allegations about the first lady made in an article originally published last August, a statement noted in a Royal Courts of Justice proceeding Wednesday in London. This settles two lawsuits Trump had brought against the newspaper's publisher in which she'd sought $150 million in damages. Although the Guardian and New York Times didn't have an exact figure on how much Trump will be getting, CNNMoney and the AP cite sources that indicate the total payout for both complaints will be $2.9 million for damages and expenses.

Some of the allegations Trump was pushing back on involved skeptical statements about her modeling career, with accusations she'd "provided services beyond simply modeling," the statement read. Besides alleging she was an escort (which both Trump and the modeling agency she worked for denied in the article), the piece also said Trump and husband Donald Trump had met three years before they said they did, and that the later meeting was simply a "ruse" that they "staged"—which Trump also says is false. "We accept that these allegations about Mrs. Trump are not true," the statement noted, adding the paper was sorry for "any distress" the article may have caused her. (The article ruined a "once-in-a-lifetime" chance for Trump.)

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