Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has reportedly started legal action against the Daily Mail and other news outlets for reporting unfounded rumors about her former modeling career.
Mrs. Trump is being represented by Charles Harder, the attorney who represented former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan in his successful invasion of privacy lawsuit against Gawker, which ultimately led to the company’s bankruptcy, Politico reported.
“Mrs. Trump has placed several news organizations on notice of her legal claims against them, including Daily Mail among others, for making false and defamatory statements about her supposedly having been an ’escort’ in the 1990s,” Mr. Harder told Politico in an email.
“All such statements are 100% false, highly damaging to her reputation, and personally hurtful,” he said. “She understands that news media have certain leeway in a presidential campaign, but outright lying about her in this way exceeds all bounds of appropriate news reporting and human decency.”
The Daily Mail article published last week referenced author Adam Schlecter’s new book, “From the Whore House to the White House: The True Story of Melania Trump.”
“The book makes a number of unpleasant claims — such as one that a modeling agency Melania worked for in Milan before moving to New York was ’something like a gentleman’s club,’” the Daily Mail explained. “The claims are all unsubstantiated and the Mail could find no trace of the book’s author, Adam Schlecter. It is quite possibly the work of an enemy of Trump — there are many.”
Mrs. Trump on Monday tweeted links to websites Inquisitr and BipartisanReport, which had both apologized and retracted similar reports.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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