Newspaper forced to pay Melania Trump 'substantial damages' over hit piece with false reporting

A leading British news outlet has issued an apology to first lady Melania Trump for publishing a story that "contained a number of false statements."

What are the details?

In a statement Saturday, the Telegraph said the apology comes in response to its cover story last Saturday, titled, "The mystery of Melania."

Although the statement didn't elaborate about every falsehood published, the news outlet acknowledged that its story "should not have been published."

The statement read:

Mrs. Trump's father was not a fearsome presence and did not control the family. Mrs. Trump did not leave her Design and Architecture course at University relating to the completion of an exam, as alleged in the article, but rather because she wanted to pursue a successful career as a professional model. Mrs. Trump was not struggling in her modelling career before she met Mr. Trump, and she did not advance in her career due to the assistance of Mr. Trump.

We accept that Mrs. Trump was a successful professional model in her own right before she met her husband and obtained her own modelling work without his assistance. Mrs. Trump met Mr. Trump in 1998, not in 1996 as stated in the article. The article also wrongly claimed that Mrs. Trump's mother, father and sister relocated to New York in 2005 to live in buildings owned by Mr. Trump. They did not. The claim that Mrs. Trump cried on election night is also false.

"We apologise unreservedly to The First Lady and her family for any embarrassment caused by our publication of these allegations," the statement said.

Additionally, the Telegraph agreed to pay Trump "substantial damages as well as her legal costs" in order to express its sincere "regret."

This is not the first time the British press has been forced to retract a story about Trump. In 2017, Trump won a sizable lawsuit against the Daily Mail for publishing a salacious story claiming Trump once worked as an escort. The story was retracted ahead of the 2016 presidential election.