Melania Trump has received an apology from Harper Collins after it published a book which claimed she was introduced to her husband by Jeffrey Epstein.
The UK publisher withdrew from circulation around 60,000 copies of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York after coming under pressure from the First Lady’s legal team, who said the book spread “malicious, defamatory falsehoods”.
Andrew Lownie’s unauthorised biography of the Duke of York, which came out in August, does not accuse Mrs Trump of any illegal conduct, but claims Epstein “facilitated” her first meeting with Mr Trump.
Mrs Trump’s legal team has disputed the allegation, with a spokesman saying they are “actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods”.
“The true account of how the first lady met President Trump is in her bestselling book, ‘Melania,’” the spokesperson told Axios.
Claims ‘unverified’
Mrs Trump’s memoir, released in October last year, said she was introduced to her future husband at a New York party in 1998 by another person, not Epstein.
Harper Collins responded by removing passages from future print editions and withdrawing copies that contain the references from distribution. The e-book and audiobooks have also been updated to reflect the changes.
“We have, in consultation with the author, removed several passages of the book that referenced unverified claims about the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump,” the publisher said in a statement.
“Copies of the book that included those references are being permanently removed from distribution. HarperCollins UK apologises to the First Lady.”
Harper Collins is the third media organisation to apologise to Mrs Trump for claiming Epstein introduced her to her husband, as the family seeks to distance itself from any association with the late paedophile financier.
In August, Mrs Trump threatened to sue Hunter Biden for repeating the same allegation. A letter from her legal team demanded that the former president’s son retract his comments and issue an apology or face being sued for $1bn (£726m).