AKIPRESS.COM - First lady Melania Trump settled defamation lawsuits she had filed against the tabloid and online editions of the Daily Mail, one of her attorneys said Wednesday, effectively ending litigation that had roots in Montgomery County just north of Washington.

The Daily Mail agreed to pay unspecified damages to Melania Trump, said the lawyer, Charles Harder.

Harder released a joint statement Wednesday on behalf of the first lady and the Daily Mail print and online publications. It included an apology from the publications, which stated:

“The Daily Mail newspaper and Mail Online/DailyMail.com website published an article on 20th August 2016 about Melania Trump which questioned the nature of her work as a professional model, and republished allegations that she provided services beyond simply modeling. The article included statements that Mrs. Trump denied the allegations and Paulo Zampolli, who ran the modeling agency, also denied the allegations, and the article also stated that there was no evidence to support the allegations. The article also claimed that Mr. and Mrs. Trump may have met three years before they actually met, and “staged” their actual meeting as a ‘ruse.’

“We accept that these allegations about Mrs. Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them. We apologize to Mrs. Trump for any distress that our publication caused her. To settle Mrs. Trump’s two lawsuits against us, we have agreed to pay her damages and costs.”