WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Journalist Julia Ioffe, who wrote a profile for GQ Magazine last month on the wife of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, has apparently filed a report with the D.C. police department after receiving threats.
The Washington Post reports that Ioffe filed the report over anti-Semitic threats she received, many appearing to come from Trump supporters, after writing the article on Melania Trump.
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GQ writer reacts to Melania Trump's attacks
The threats came through phone calls and emails, and the allged offense is categorized as "threat to kidnap or injure a person." According to the Post, one threat sent to her included a caricature of a person being shot in the back of the head by another.
In April, Melania Trump trashed GQ Magazine for "disingenuous reporting" after the publication dove deep into her family's past and published a report.
"The article published in GQ today is yet another example of the dishonest media and their disingenuous reporting," Trump, née Knauss, said in a Facebook post.
Melania Trump took a page out of her husband's press playbook and also slammed Ioffe, who traveled to Slovenia and reported on the former model's upbringing in the former communist Yugoslavia. She assailed Ioffe as someone with an "agenda" and "looking to make a name for herself."
"There are numerous inaccuracies in this article including certain statements about my family and claims on personal matters," Mrs. Trump said. "My parents are private citizens and should not be subject to Ms. Ioffe's unfair scrutiny."
Among other revelations, Ioffe's report divulged the existence of Mrs. Trump's half brother, whom Melania Trump's father, Victor Knavs, never acknowledged and whose existence Melania first denied to Ioffe. (Trump later said that she had "known about this for years" but had just misunderstood Ioffe's questioning.)
Speaking with CBS News last month, Ioffe responded to the former model's accusations, defending a story that "took months to report" and pointing to archival court documents as proof.
A crash course on Melania Trump
"I think she's understandably upset that some dirty laundry came out," said Ioffe, who is also a contributing writer for the New York Times. "But I did my job."
Ioffe added that she was confident in her reporting and GQ's fact-checking process, but she was "sorry if it caused discomfort for her and her family."
"It wasn't my intention to do that," she said. But "her husband is running for president -- she is now a public person."
And, Ioffe added, "the rumors have been circulating around Slovenia. If it wasn't me -- somebody else would have reported it."
....and that's why I really, really do not want Trump to be president, because this sort of retaliation will not stop and would likely only get worse.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
"I think she's understandably upset that some dirty laundry came out," said Ioffe, who is also a contributing writer for the New York Times. "But I did my job."
Then Ioffe's job is evidently to be nothing more than a worthless gossipmonger. There is no public interest in knowing Trump's wife has a half-brother, and Melenia Trump has no obligation to enable her tabloid bullshit.
That may be true but the moment you allow journalist even tabloid ones to be silenced via death threats when someone doesn't like what they said you're sending a dangerous precident. I not defending what Ioffe wrote as it's not really relevant, but there's a big difference between "I won't want you to do this and won't do anything that will enable it" and "you should be killed for what you said".
That said as far as I know neither Donald Trump or his wife have been behind the threats, but rather it's been their supporters acting independently.
I may be an idiot, but I'm a tolerated idiot
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Oh wait, that's marijuana..."Einhander Sn0m4n
Grumman wrote:Then Ioffe's job is evidently to be nothing more than a worthless gossipmonger. There is no public interest in knowing Trump's wife has a half-brother, and Melenia Trump has no obligation to enable her tabloid bullshit.
So what if she is a tabloid reporter? Doesn't mean she isn't entitled to write the worthless trash she'd be writing. Nor does it entitle others to threaten her for mongering gossip.
And there is a public interest to know everything possible about the man who might be President including his wife's dirty laundry. A secret half brother is something people might want to know about even leaving aside the needs of public interest. Trump and whatever wife he has right now are public figures and people want to know about them, with Trump's political aspirations they have a right to know about them.
Public interest is all well and good but thats not how the 1st Amendment works. The media is not obligated to only report things that are only about the well being of the public.
Zixinus wrote:Haven't previous US president candidates been scrutinized this way too?
Yes. It's quite common for articles and interviews to be written and released during the election cycle regarding the various candidates. In the past this was essential given the lack of 24-hours news coverage. Now it's a bit less important, but accurate journalism (as opposed to smears, yellow journalism, and straight-up lies) is still valuable.
They don't stop at just the candidates themselves, either-- interviews with spouses and campaign staff are also quite common. You'll see asinine stuff like "so how do you think you'll redecorate the White House when you move in" alongside "do you agree with your spouse's policies/whatever".
Then Trump is essentially whining for what is one of the many inevitable ends consequences of running for president. The only question is how accurate the information is. It's telling that instead offering corrections or downplaying the result, he's all "how dare he investigate my wife!".
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Zixinus wrote:Then Trump is essentially whining for what is one of the many inevitable ends consequences of running for president. The only question is how accurate the information is. It's telling that instead offering corrections or downplaying the result, he's all "how dare he investigate my wife!".
The journo is female, but otherwise, yep, that's about it. Just a bunch of bluster.
Elheru Aran wrote:They don't stop at just the candidates themselves, either-- interviews with spouses and campaign staff are also quite common. You'll see asinine stuff like "so how do you think you'll redecorate the White House when you move in" alongside "do you agree with your spouse's policies/whatever".
If I recall, back when Obama was running/newly president someone went over to Africa and interviewed his relatives there, and people who had known him as a school boy in Indonesia. Yeah, if you run for President everyone gets interviewed down to the babysitter who wiped the shit off your ass at the age of two.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
