The British newspaper The Telegraph published a massive apology Saturday to First Lady Melania Trump regarding an article published January 19 that began with the admission, “we have been asked to make clear that the article contained a number of false statements which we accept should not have been published” and concluded with a promise to pay “substantial damages” and legal costs.
“We apologise unreservedly to The First Lady and her family for any embarrassment caused by our publication of these allegations. As a mark of our regret we have agreed to pay Mrs Trump substantial damages as well as her legal costs.”
The Telegraph apologized for numerous false statements about Melania and her family. The full text of the apology:
Following last Saturday’s (Jan 19) Telegraph magazine cover story “The mystery of Melania”, we have been asked to make clear that the article contained a number of false statements which we accept should not have been published. Mrs Trump’s father was not a fearsome presence and did not control the family. Mrs Trump did not leave her Design and Architecture course at University relating to the completion of an exam, as alleged in the article, but rather because she wanted to pursue a successful career as a professional model. Mrs Trump was not struggling in her modelling career before she met Mr Trump, and she did not advance in her career due to the assistance of Mr Trump.
We accept that Mrs Trump was a successful professional model in her own right before she met her husband and obtained her own modelling work without his assistance. Mrs Trump met Mr Trump in 1998, not in 1996 as stated in the article. The article also wrongly claimed that Mrs Trump’s mother, father and sister relocated to New York in 2005 to live in buildings owned by Mr Trump. They did not. The claim that Mrs Trump cried on election night is also false.
We apologise unreservedly to The First Lady and her family for any embarrassment caused by our publication of these allegations. As a mark of our regret we have agreed to pay Mrs Trump substantial damages as well as her legal costs.
In 2017, Melania Trump settled libel suits filed in the U.S. and U.K. against the U.K. Daily Mail with the paper paying the First Lady a reported $2.9 million according to CNN.
The Daily Mail has apologized to Melania Trump and agreed to pay damages to settle a lawsuit filed by the first lady after the publisher made false claims about her work as a professional model.
The settlement was announced in a joint statement from the Daily Mail and Trump’s lawyers.
“We accept that these allegations about Mrs. Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them. We apologize to Mrs. Trump for any distress that our publication caused her,” the Daily Mail and Mail Online said in the statement.
Trump will be paid about $2.9 million in damages and costs, according to a source familiar with the settlement.
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