The writer of a retracted Telegraph article is threatening the U.K. newspaper with a defamation lawsuit over an apology it issued to Melania Trump.
In a legal letter posted to her website, Nina Burleigh defended her piece and said the apology from the paper was offered without her knowledge and was defamatory.
“Your Apology traduces Ms Burleigh’s reputation as a competent journalist by asserting that many of the statements in the Article and by extension in the Book from which the Article was derived, both authored by her, are false,” the letter reads.
“In fact, it is [Telegraph Media Group’s] Apology that is false. It appears that fear of Mrs. Trump’s lawyer Mr Harder, the “Gawker slayer,” caused TMG to capitulate abjectly in the face of his letter without regard to normal journalistic principles, at the cost of Ms Burleigh’s personal and professional reputation.”
“The following statements in the Apology are defamatory of Ms Burleigh,” it adds, citing their specific objections.
The letter signed by the international law firm McAllister Olivarius goes on to list a series of compensatory demands from Burleigh necessary to redress the situation, including the retraction of the apology to Melania Trump, the issuance of a new apology to Burleigh, compensation for “damages,” and the payment of all of Burleigh’s legal costs.
https://www.thewrap.com/author-of-retracted-telegraph-article-about-melania-trump-accuses-paper-of-defamation/