Melania Trump has the same love-hate relationship with the media that her husband does.
On Wednesday evening, Donald Trump’s wife wrote a Facebook (FB) post referring to a profile of her that was published earlier that day in GQ.
“The article published in GQ today is yet another example of the dishonest media and their disingenuous reporting. Julia Ioffe, a journalist who is looking to make a name for herself, clearly had an agenda when going after my family,” wrote Melania Trump. She went on to claim that there were “numerous inaccuracies” in the story about her family, but didn’t go into detail.
Trump was slightly more explicit in calling out an alleged error regarding her Melania Skin Care Collection, writing “the statement surrounding the performance of my skincare collection is completely false.”
In the GQ story, Ioffe wrote that “Melania’s caviar-infused anti-aging creams haven’t sold as well, though a federal judge ruled in her favor in a lawsuit she filed against its promoters.” Responding in her Facebook post, Trump writes, “The company in which I was involved with did not honor the contract and did not meet their obligations and as such the courts ruled in my favor.”
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In the post, Trump returns repeatedly to the allegation that Ioffe invaded her family’s privacy. “My parents are private citizens and should not be subject to Ms. Ioffe’s unfair scrutiny,” she writes.
Trump may be referring to two excerpts from the piece regarding her father, Viktor Knavs. In one, Ioffe brings up illicit trade and tax evasion charges made against him:
Police files from the time indicate Viktor aroused suspicion for illicit trade and tax evasion in 1976. (He was charged with a tax offense, though his record was later cleared on account of Slovenia’s statute of limitations, a process the courts described to me as “legal rehabilitations.”)
The second has to do with Ioffe’s reporting on Melania’s half-brother, who, according to the GQ story, has never been acknowledged by his father and whose existence has never been reported on by the media. Here’s how Ioffe details Knavs’ court battle with his son’s mother:
Viktor continued to deny paternity—going into detail for the court about when he had sex with Marija and the rhythms of her menstrual cycle—prompting the court to order a blood test. Based on its results, the court determined that Viktor was, in fact, the boy’s biological father.
Donald Trump has yet to speak publicly about the profile. Coins2Day has reached out to Ioffe for comment and will update this story if the journalist responds.
