Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020
Trump and the first lady are self-isolating after Hope Hicks, one of his top aides tested positive. This will dramatically change the shape of the election campaign.
Presumably because Trump spent time with Coney Barrett, his Supreme Court nominee, she will have to self isolate…
The queen of beltway babes Melania Trump (47) is spotted sporting a stylish piece from Cefinn, Samantha Cameron’s fashion range. The First Lady looked gorgeous in green as she showed off the £295 green belted muslin shirt dress, which she wore to meet the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL ice-hockey team yesterday. SamCam founded Cefinn in February, pitching it her debut styles as: “sleek, fashion-conscious affordable office wear”. Good for Anglo-US exports…
Melania Trump today accepted an apology and damages from the Daily Mail and MailOnline over allegations about her work as a model. The figure is undisclosed. A retraction had already been published. The apology reads:
“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 apologise 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.”
The Mail has been Trumped!
UPDATE: Both CNN and Reuters reporting that the total payout – including costs – was around $3 million.
The White House have released the new official portrait of the First Lady. Second airbrushing story of the day…
Trump jokes about media bias…
“The media is even more biased against me than ever before. You want the proof? Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone loves it. It’s fantastic. They think she’s absolutely great. My Wife Melania gives the exact same speech! And people get on her case! And I don’t get it! I don’t know Why!”
The Daily Mail has issued a lengthy, grovelling retraction after Melania Trump filed a lawsuit against them in a Maryland court for publishing claims she was once an escort. Trump’s attorney Charles Harder is suing them for $150 million:
“Defendants broadcast their lies to millions of people throughout the US and the world. Defendants’ actions are so egregious, malicious and harmful to Mrs Trump that her damages are estimated at $US150 million.”
Harder is the infamous lawyer who represented Hulk Hogan in his successful suit against US gossip blog Gawker. Hogan was awarded damages of $140 million, Gawker was bankrupted and shut down. Late last night the Mail published a long retraction expressing “regret“:
“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.”
Calling a presidential candidate’s wife a hooker does seem a little high risk. Gawker went under for reporting the truth…
