On Thursday, Melania Trump filed suit in Montgomery County, Maryland, seeking $75 million each from a blogger and Britain's Daily Mail for publishing articles alleging that, before marrying Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, she had worked as a high-end "escort." The defendants, the Daily Mail and blogger Webster Tarpley, "made several statements about Mrs. Trump that are 100 percent false and tremendously damaging to her personal and professional reputation," said Charles Harder, Melania Trump's lawyer. "Defendants' actions are so egregious, malicious, and harmful to Mrs. Trump that her damages are estimated at $150 million." Harder is most famous for ruinously suing Gawker Media on behalf of Hulk Hogan.
Tarpley has retracted his claims, and the Daily Mail published a retraction and apology on Thursday evening. Its article "noted that allegations have been made" that Trump worked for a Milan modeling agency that "was 'something like a gentleman's club,'" and a Slovenian article alleged "Mrs. Trump's modeling agency in New York, run by Paolo Zampolli, 'operated as an escort agency for wealthy clients,'" the Daily Mail said. "The point of the article was that these allegations could impact the U.S. presidential election even if they are untrue." The retraction continued:
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