Melania Trump threatens to sue People magazine after Donald Trump is accused of sexual assault
She demands there is a retraction and apology over the first-person account by Natasha Stoynoff
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Donald Trump's wife has threatened to sue People magazine as the fallout rumbled on from a series of media reports alleging sexual assaults by her husband.
Melania Trump said portions of the People article are "false and completely fictionalised".
She demanded a retraction and apology, and threatened to sue the publication over the first-person account by Natasha Stoynoff of an interview she did with Donald and Melania Trump at their home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Ms Stoynoff said that when Mrs Trump left the room, her husband pushed Ms Stoynoff against a wall and sexually assaulted her.
The Republican presidential candidate says the account is untrue.
Meanwhile, the New York Times rejected Mr Trump's claim that the newspaper had libelled him, saying its own story about two other women who said he sexually assaulted them was "newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern".
Times lawyer David McCraw said Mr Trump "has bragged about his non-consensual sexual touching of women" and that multiple women had already come forward.
"Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself," he wrote.
The Times reported that two women told the paper of unwanted sexual advances. Jessica Leeds said Mr Trump groped her on a plane more than three decades ago, and Rachel Crooks said he kissed her without invitation in 2006 when she was a 22-year-old receptionist for a real estate firm at Trump Tower.
Mr Trump vehemently denies the allegations, blaming the media and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, and has demanded through his lawyer that the Times story be retracted.
He said: "These vicious claims about me, of inappropriate conduct with women, are totally and absolutely false. And the Clintons know it."
His accusers, he added, "are horrible people. They're horrible, horrible liars".
Press Association
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments