LATE UPDATE, August 23, 2016, 9:34 AM ET: CNN Money reported on Tuesday that Politico, the Daily Mail, and at least eight other news outlets have been notified about possible legal action by Trump.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Melania Trump has reportedly put the Daily Mail and other news outlets on notice over articles about her work as a model that she alleges are defamatory.
An attorney for Trump, Charles Harder, wrote in an email to Politico that would-be next first lady has put “several” outlets on notice “for making false and defamatory statements about her supposedly having been an ‘escort’ in the 1990s.”
“All such statements are 100% false, highly damaging to her reputation, and personally hurtful. 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,” he also said.
Harder most recently represented Terry Bollea, better known as the wrestler Hulk Hogan, in his successful lawsuit against Gawker Media for publishing a clip of his sex tape. That lawsuit, which forced the bankruptcy of Gawker and its founder, Nick Denton, was secretly bankrolled by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, a Trump delegate who spoke at the Republican National Convention.
After Gawker ran a thorough investigation into whether Donald Trump’s infamous hairdo is the work of Ivari International, a hair clinic which conducts patented hair restoration treatments, the site also heard from Harder. This time he was working on behalf of clinic founder Edward Ivari, who called the story “false and defamatory.”
The Daily Mail article at issue, according to Politico, was published on Thursday and details the “VERY racy past of Donald Trump’s Slovenian wife.”
On Monday, Trump tweeted links to the Inquisitr and BipartisanReport apologizing for re-publishing the claims. Other news outlets in the United Kingdom were warned about publishing the allegations, Politico reported.
This post has been updated.
