Melania Trump, wife of United States Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has filed a defamation case against British tabloid The Daily Mail and a US blogger for writing articles that suggested that she was a high-end escort in the 1990s. Her lawyer said the defendants have been sued for $150 million (Rs 1,002 crore approximately) for "outright lying" about his client, according to BBC.

Lawyer Charles Harder said, "These defendants made several statements about Mrs Trump that are 100% false and tremendously damaging to her personal and professional reputation." He called the claims made by the publication and the blogger Webster Tarpley "egregious, malicious and harmful". The article published by the daily suggested that Melania was a part-time escort in New York in the 1990s. It also went on to claim that she met her husband much before what has been reported previously.

The article has been removed from the website. Regretting the "misinterpretation" that the said article might have caused, the newspaper said, "We did not intend to state or suggest that these allegations are true...nor did we intend to state or suggest that Mrs Trump ever worked as an ‘escort’ or in the ‘sex business’." In his blog, Tarpley said, "it is widely known Melania was not a working model but rather a high-end escort...she had a “mental breakdown” after a plagiarism controversy over her speech to the Republican national convention in Cleveland in July," according to The Guardian. He has taken down his blog post as well. However, Harder held that the removal of the articles will not affect the merit of the case.