Melania Trump pursues Daily Mail over '100% false' rumors about her past

Lawyers for Republican nominee’s wife accuse paper
of ‘exceeding all bounds of appropriate human decency’

Ben Jacobs in Washington
Monday 22 August 2016 21.25 BST

Lawyers for Melania Trump are pursuing legal action against the Daily Mail for reporting “100% false” rumors that she worked as an escort in the 1990s as well as raising questions about her immigration status at the time.

While Donald Trump has a reputation for threatening and pursuing litigation, it is unusual for a major party nominee or their spouse to mount legal action against a publication only months before an election.

The Republican nominee’s wife had previously denied a story in Politico in which questions about her immigration status were first reported but had not previously addressed the other accusations.

The suit comes in the wake of Trump launching an offensive against many media outlets, banning some such as Politico and the Washington Post from covering his rallies as well as calling for libel laws in the US to be opened up. He also banned the Guardian from attending an event in Scotland after Trump took offence when reporter Ewen MacAskill questioned the Republican nominee about his allegedly “toxic” politics.

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