First lady Melania Trump has settled a libel lawsuit with a blogger who wrote last year about rumors that Trump was at one point an “escort.” The Maryland blogger, Webster Tarpley, 71, retracted the post and issued a public apology for what he described as a piece “replete with false and defamatory statements” about the first lady. “I had no legitimate factual basis to make these false statements and I fully retract them,” he said. Tarpley apologized and paid Trump “a substantial sum.” The statement continues: “I acknowledge that these false statements were very harmful and hurtful to Mrs. Trump and her family, and therefore I sincerely apologize to Mrs. Trump, her son, her husband and her parents for making these false statements.”
