Melania Trump sues Daily Mail and blogger over escort 'lies'

Melania Trump, the wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has filed a £114m lawsuit against the Daily Mail and an American blogger over allegations she was a sex worker in the 1990s.

"These defendants made several statements about Mrs Trump that are 100 per cent false and tremendously damaging to her personal and professional reputation," Trump's lawyer, Charles Harder, said.

The article, which appeared in the Daily Mail and online, said Melania Trump "may have worked as a part-time escort in New York" and that she had "met husband Donald Trump… earlier than previously reported", the BBC says.

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The Daily Mail has published a retraction of the story, both in print and online, saying the article "did not intend to state or suggest that these allegations are true, nor did it intend to state or suggest that Mrs Trump ever worked as an 'escort' or in the 'sex business'", and defended its decision to run the story.

In a blog post, which has since been removed, blogger Webster Tarpley claimed "it is widely known Melania was not a working model but rather a high-end escort", reports The Guardian.

Tarpley has since issued a retraction of the allegations, saying that writers for the site were "not diligent in fact-checking or maintaining a healthy distance between innuendo and fact".

What can we expect from Melania Trump's press conference?

12 August

Donald Trump's wife, Melania, will hold a news conference "over the next couple of weeks" to address questions over her immigration status, the US presidential candidate has promised.

"They said my wife, Melania, might have come in illegally. Can you believe that one?" he told supporters at a rally in North Carolina earlier this week.

"Let me tell you one thing - she has got it so documented so she's going to have a little news conference over the next couple of weeks," he added. "That's good. I love it. I love it."

The potential first lady's path to US citizenship hit the headlines after the New York Post published nude photos of her taken in 1995, "raising questions about whether the former model had obtained the appropriate visa to work as a model in the United States", CNN says.

Trump's wife told the broadcaster earlier this year that she had arrived in the US in 1996, one year after the images were taken. She "obeyed the law" during that time and "flew to Slovenia every few months to stamp" her visa, she added.

However, "while tourist visas need to be renewed periodically, the visa Melania Trump would have needed to work legally in the US as a model would not have needed to be renewed for at least three years," CNN says.

Neither Trump, who deny the allegations, has offered any hint at what will be said in the press conference, nor has a date for it been set.

The controversy threatens to undermine the Republican's key policies. Trump has put immigration at the heart of his presidential campaign, promising to stop Muslims from entering the country and to build a wall between the US and Mexico.

"So whilst the Trump campaign encourages its supporters to deport the undocumented and build that wall to keep them out it seems his own wife's papers may be causing his troubled campaign some sleepless nights," says Irish Central.

The site points to numerous examples of the Slovenian demonstrating "an ambiguous relationship with the truth" and says the Trumps should make her immigration documents public to prove they have nothing to hide.

"If it takes weeks instead of hours for a presidential campaign to respond to a simple question, something's up," it says. "It's an old rule of Washington, the longer you wait the more they're probably hiding."

Melania Trump: Questions over model's green card

8 August

Questions are being asked about Slovenian model Melania Trump's path to US citizenship after an attorney claimed he received her green card application "based on marriage" in 2001 – four years before her wedding to the Republican presidential nominee Donald.

In 2005, Trump, who worked as a model in Paris and Milan before arriving in the US on a working visa, told chat show host Larry King she had never been married prior to meeting the New York businessman.

But according to news website Univision, immigration attorney Michael Wildes, who worked for The Trump Organization, alleges she was married before.

Wildes said that Melania "obtained a green card four years earlier in 2001, 'based on marriage,'" Univision's investigative unit says.He told the site: "Ms Trump received citizenship in 2006 and prior to that she had a green card based on marriage.

"Before that, she had a work visa and was in full compliance on her visas and never disrespected any of them. That has been made clear to me."

The site adds: "When asked to explain the marriage discrepancy, Wildes said he would seek clarification presumably from the Trump Organization. He later sent an email saying 'I didn't hear back, sorry.'"

A spokesperson for Trump denied the report, telling the Daily Mail: "Contrary to inaccurate reports today, Melania was not married prior to her marriage to Mr Trump in 2005. She obtained a green card on her own."

During his time with The Trump Organization, Wildes acted "on behalf of Trump models". He was also responsible for acquiring the appropriate legal paperwork for the Miss Universe models when the company owned the pageant.

Trump's journey to becoming a US citizen has been subjected to considerable media scrutiny following her husband's campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigrants

The businessmen's supporters "regularly chant 'build the wall' at his rallies, referring to his plan to block Mexicans without proper documentation along the southern US border", the Daily Mail reports.

Melania: Did Donald Trump leak wife's nude photos?

3 August

Were the photos of a naked Melania Trump leaked by her husband? Gossip website Gawker has speculated that "The Donald" encouraged the release of the photos to deflect the controversy over his comments to the family of a US Muslim war hero.

To support the theory, Brendan O'Connor points to the unruffled response of Trump's camp to the story. He also raises questions over the manner in which they emerged.

"If they've been around since 1995, why are these just coming out now?" he asks. "And why in a paper owned by conservative powerbroker Rupert Murdoch?"

Other commentators have asked why the prospective first lady has not been given a rougher ride by the media. Rajiv Menon, a cultural analyst for TruthCo, told The Wrap this was because "she just doesn't fit into the mould of what other first lady candidates have shown in the past".

Jack Pitney, a professor of US politics at Claremont McKenna College in California, agrees. "She's the trophy wife of a billionaire, a former model, so she doesn't have to meet high expectations in a way that a Harvard educated lawyer like Michelle Obama does," he says.

However, Pitney believes there is a little more to it and that Trump's wife also benefits from the fact that her husband "is a black hole that consumes all criticism within the vicinity".

However, even commentators who oppose the Trumps have called for people to avoid criticising the former model. Michael Arceneaux says the photos were leaked in the New York Post, a paper that is "right-leaning, routinely racist, consistently sexist, and typically terrible".

The outrage seeks to "play off archaic ideas of nudity and sexuality and perpetuate elitist ideas of what kind of woman should be first lady", he adds.

US election 2016: Melania's naked photos 'will win gay vote for Donald Trump'

2 August

Naked photographs of Donald Trump's wife, Melania, may help him win the LGBTQ and single white male vote, according to a right-wing US commentator.

The photos, published by the New York Post, were taken for a for a French men's monthly magazine three years before Melania met her husband and show her posing nude alongside Scandinavian model Emma Ericsson.

Speaking yesterday, prominent US talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who has a long history of colourful views on race, feminism and the environment, said the "nude girl-on-girl photos" would help Trump attract votes in the race for the White House.

"I think this probably might wrap up the LGBTQ vote for Trump," he said. "And the single, white male vote, particularly the some or no-college-educated white male vote."

He continued: "I mean, isn't this kind of stuff that makes people big stars today on Twitter and Facebook, TMZ? I mean, this is just the Kardashians in a sense of the subject type stuff. I mean, it’s relatable."

Trump himself said: "In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common."

Jason Miller, a senior Trump adviser, told CNN: "These were photos that are 20 years old, before Mrs Trump met Mr Trump. They’re a celebration of the human body as art."

This is the second time the 46-year-old wife of the Republican candidate has hit the headlines in recent weeks. Last month, she was accused of plagiarising her speech at the Republican National Convention from an address made by First Lady Michelle Obama in 2008.