The Daily Mail just retracted an article containing lurid allegations about Donald Trump's wife
Friday's edition of the Daily Mail carried a lengthy retraction of the August 20 article, which appeared in both the paper and on Mail Online. The retraction has also been published in full online.
The article, headlined "Racy photos, and troubling questions about his wife's past that could derail Trump," repeated claims made in Slovenian magazine Suzy.
Specifically, it said Trump's modeling agency in New York, run by Paolo Zampolli, "operated as an escort agency for wealthy clients."
The Daily Mail said it "regrets" any "misinterpretation" of the story, which may have led readers to believe that Trump worked as an escort.
A statement on Thursday from Charles Harder, the lawyer representing Trump, called the allegations "100% false" and "tremendously damaging to [Trump's] personal and professional reputation."
Trump's lawsuit also included Maryland blog Tarper, which has also retracted its article.
The Daily Mail retraction in full:
"On August 20, 2016, an article was published in the Daily Mail newspaper titled 'Racy photos, and troubling questions about his wife's past that could derail Trump.'
The article discussed whether allegations being made about Melania Trump could negatively affect her husband Donald Trump's presidential bid. Among other things, the article noted that allegations have been made in a book available on Amazon about a modeling agency where Mrs. Trump worked in Milan being 'something like a gentleman's club,' and an article published by Suzy, a Slovenian magazine, alleged that Mrs. Trump's modeling agency in New York, run by Paolo Zampolli, 'operated as an escort agency for wealthy clients.'
The article, which was also published online by the Mailonline/DailyMail.com website under the headline 'Naked photoshoots, and troubling questions about visas that won't go away: The VERY racy past of Donald Trump's Slovenian wife' 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.'
To the contrary, The Daily Mail newspaper article stated that there was no support for the allegations, and it provided adamant denials from Mrs. Trump's spokesperson and from Mr. Zampolli.
The point of the article was that these allegations could impact the U.S. presidential election even if they are untrue. Mrs. Trump's counsel in the U.S. and the U.K., have stated unequivocally that the allegations about the modeling agencies are false.
To the extent that anything in the Daily Mail's article was interpreted as stating or suggesting that Mrs. Trump worked as an 'escort' or in the 'sex business,' that she had a 'composite or presentation card for the sex business,' or that either of the modeling agencies referenced in the article were engaged in these businesses, it is hereby retracted, and the Daily Mail newspaper regrets any such misinterpretation.
The Daily Mail newspaper and MailOnline/DailyMail.com have entirely separate editors and journalistic teams. In so far as MailOnline/DailyMail.com published the same article it wholeheartedly also retracts the above and also regrets any such misinterpretation."