Daily Mail settles libel case with Melania Trump for $2.9 million, by Kelsey Sutton.

The settlement ends months of litigation for the two parties after the Daily Mail published an article that included unfounded allegations that Trump had served as a high-end escort in the 1990s. Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the Daily Mail in September, which sought at least $150 million in damages for what Trump’s legal team said was lost business opportunities. …

“We accept that these allegations about Mrs. Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them,” Daily Mail said in a statement. “We apologise to Mrs. Trump for any distress that our publication caused her.”

Maryland blogger settles defamation lawsuit brought by Melania Trump, by Kelsey Sutton.

Webster Griffin Tarpley, who runs the blog Tarpley.net, has agreed to pay a “substantial sum” and issued a statement apologizing to the first lady and her family, according to a statement from Trump’s attorneys. In August, Tarpley published unsubstantiated rumors that the first lady had previously been an “escort” and that she was suffering a “nervous breakdown” because of the presidential campaign.

“I posted an article on August 2, 2016 about Melania Trump that was replete with false and defamatory statements about her,” reads Tarpley’s statement. “I had no legitimate factual basis to make these false statements and I fully retract them. 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.”