Trump Proposes Compromise for Resigned Miss Pennsylvania
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ABC/Ida Mae Astute(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump is not known to back down from his words, but when it comes to a beauty queen he may be willing to compromise.
The business magnate and chair of the Miss Universe Organization has stepped back – with one condition – on his decision to sue Sheena Monnin, the former Miss Pennsylvania USA who called last weekend’s Miss USA pageant “fraudulent” and resigned her crown.
He won’t sue if the former title holder apologizes to him in a written statement within 24 hours, his spokesman said last night.
“Donald Trump believes in giving everyone a second chance, including Ms. Sheena Monnin,” Michael D. Cohen, executive VP and special counsel to Trump, told E! News Wednesday.
“Accordingly, if Ms. Monnin in a writing received by Mr. Trump within the next 24 hours apologizes and withdraws her utterly baseless claim that the Miss USA pageant results were predetermined, then and only then will Mr. Trump and the Miss USA Organization not proceed with litigation against Ms. Monnin seeking massive damages for her defamatory and offensive remarks,” the statement read.
Trump’s slight bend toward contrition came just hours after the mogul made a round of fiery media appearances in which he accused Monnin of being a sore loser and not being pretty enough to be among the top 15 finalists in Sunday’s Miss USA pageant.
“We will be bringing a lawsuit against her,” Trump said on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday. “She lost and if you look at her compared to the people who were in the top 15, you would understand why she’s not in the top 15. It’s a very, very sad situation.”
Monnin resigned her Miss Pennsylvania title and quit the Miss Universe Organization this week after charging that Sunday’s Miss USA pageant was rigged.
“Effective immediately I have voluntarily, completely, and utterly removed myself from the Miss Universe Organization,” the 27-year-old beauty queen posted on her Facebook page Monday. “In good conscience I can no longer be affiliated in any way with an organization I consider to be fraudulent, lacking in morals, inconsistent, and in many ways trashy.”
Monnin claimed that another contestant saw the list of the top five finalists before the show even started, a claim Trump quickly denied.
“My people said that they’ve already interviewed that person and that person said it’s not true,” Trump said on GMA. “Ernst & Young is one of the great, respected accounting firms. They do the tabulation.”
“It’s not like we care who the final contestants are. You take the 16 and you go down to 10 to five and then you have a winner and then it’s all tabulated. The judges are all celebrities and they make their pick and that’s the end of it,” he said.
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