The author of a book that led a British newspaper to issue an apology and pay “substantial damages” to first lady Melania Trump is standing behind her reporting.
Nina Burleigh authored the cover story “The mystery of Melania,” which appeared in The Daily Telegraph’s Jan. 19 magazine and was adapted from her October 2018 book Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump’s Women.
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“The book was lawyered for months and fact-checked professionally, it does not contain inaccuracies and there is nothing false in it,” Burleigh said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “It was excerpted in Newsweek, Yahoo, and on Bustle and was covered in the New York Times, New York Magazine, and People magazine and in the U.K. in The Daily Mail, to name just a few of the print and online outlets, as well as discussed on numerous podcasts, radio and TV, including several times on the BBC.
“Melania Trump never challenged it in the three months since it was published here,” Burleigh said of her book. “I understand it’s easier to use British law to silence criticism and shut down inquiry. I stand by the accuracy of my reporting.”
The Telegraph on Saturday issued an apology to Trump regarding Burleigh’s cover story and said it agreed to pay the first lady “substantial damages,” as well as her legal costs. The story was removed from The Telegraph’s website and from others that reproduced the piece.
“We apologise unreservedly to The First Lady and her family for any embarrassment caused by our publication of these allegations,” The Telegraph said.
The newspaper said the article contained “a number of false statements which we accept should not have been published,” including that Trump cried on the night of the 2016 presidential election.
That claim was initially reported in Michael Wolff’s tell-all book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, published last year.
Burleigh also said on Twitter the reporting in her book was accurate and said she hasn’t been asked for money.
“[B]ut I’d donate to a Trump hush money slush fund before apologizing to the family’s pet sharks for writing true things,” she tweeted Saturday.
ICYMI, a British paper has apologized for some accurate reporting in my book, including facts reported elsewhere by others. I haven’t been asked for money, but I’d donate to a Trump hush money slush fund before apologizing to the family’s pet sharks for writing true things. pic.twitter.com/BJOkvdwmbT
— Nina Burleigh (@ninaburleigh) January 26, 2019
