Melania Trump Demands Apology

Natasha Stoynoff

An attorney for Melania Trump is demanding an apology and retraction from People, challenging some of the facts of a People writer’s story in which she claims that Donald Trump forced himself on her during a 2005 assignment, reports Variety.

The story by Natasha Stoynoff was posted on Wednesday, and she contends that, while his wife was away, Donald Trump physically attacked her in a room at the Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Stoynoff wrote that she had been sent there to do an interview with the Trumps on their first anniversary.

Charles Harder, who is representing Melania Trump, wrote in a letter to Stoynoff and People editor-in-chief Jess Cagle that several statements in the piece are “false and completely fictionalized.” He cited Stoynoff’s contention that after the incident happened, she ran into Melania Trump on Fifth Avenue.

According to Stoynoff, Melania Trump asked her, “Natasha, why don’t we see you anymore?” She then gave her a hug.

“I was quiet and smiled, telling her I missed her, and I squeezed little Barron’s foot.”

Harder wrote, “The true facts are there: Mrs. Trump did not encounter Ms. Stoynoff on the street, nor have any conversation with her. The two are not friends or even friendly. At the time in question, Mrs. Trump would not have even recognized Ms. Stoynoff if they had encountered one another on the street.”

The letter threatens legal action if a retraction isn’t issued.