Melania Trump gets settlement, apology from Daily Mail

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Melania Trump is getting a reported $2.9 million in damages and legal fees from the UK's Daily Mail newspaper, as well as a written apology for an article it published ahead of the Presidential election.

The Wall Street Journal cited a source familiar with the settlement in its report detailing the cash award.

The Daily Mail posted its apology on its website.

"The Mail Online website and the Daily Mail newspaper published an article on 20th August 2016 about Melania Trump which questioned the nature of her work as a professional model, and republished allegations that she provided services beyond simply modelling. The article included statements that Mrs. Trump denied the allegations and Paulo Zampolli, who ran the modelling agency, also denied the allegations, and the article also stated that there was no evidence to support the allegations. The article also claimed that Mr. and Mrs. Trump may have met three years before they actually met, and 'staged' their actual meeting as a 'ruse.'"

"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. To settle Mrs. Trump's two lawsuits against us, we have agreed to pay her damages and costs."

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The First Lady had filed a libel lawsuit against the Daily Mail for reporting rumors that she worked as an escort. In the filing, her attorneys argued the report damaged her ability to profit off her high profile.

Mrs. Trump, the filing states, "had the unique, one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person, as well as a former professional model, brand spokesperson and successful businesswoman, to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which Plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world."

Her lawsuit sought compensatory and punitive damages of at least $150 million.

The AP contributed to this report.