"The story is totally without merit. Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of."
Ivana added: "I have nothing but fondness for Donald and wish him the best of luck on his campaign. Incidentally, I think he would make an incredible president."
Ivana split from the Apprentice star in the early 1990s. The allegations, which came from a deposition during the Trumps' divorce, were revealed in the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump.
In revisiting the allegations on Sunday, the Daily Beastpiece had garnered attention for a member of The Trump Organization's defense of his boss.
Special counsel Michael Cohen reportedly told the outlet that it was impossible for rape to happen within a marriage.
"You're talking about the front-runner for the GOP presidential candidate, as well as private individual who never raped anybody. And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can't rape your spouse."
He added: "It is true. You cannot rape your spouse. And there's very clear case law."
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Cohen threatened legal action if the story was published.
"I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we're in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don't have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know.
"So I'm warning you, tread very f***ing lightly, because what I'm going to do to you is going to be f***ing disgusting. You understand me?"
"You write a story that has Mr. Trump's name in it, with the word 'rape', and I'm going to mess your life up ... for as long as you're on this frickin' planet...you're going to have judgments against you, so much money, you'll never know how to get out from underneath it," he added.
"So you do whatever you want. You want to ruin your life at the age of 20? You do that, and I'll be happy to serve it right up to you."
"I think you should go ahead and you should write the story that you plan on writing. I think you should do it. Because I think you're an idiot. And I think your paper's a joke, and it's going to be my absolute pleasure to serve you with a $500 million lawsuit."
After the story was published Cohen said in a statement to CNN: "In my moment of shock and anger, I made an inarticulate comment - which I do not believe - and which I apologise for entirely."
"As an attorney, husband and father there are many injustices that offend me but nothing more than charges of rape or racism. They hit me at my core.
"Rarely am I surprised by the press, but the gall of this particular reporter to make such a reprehensible and false allegation against Mr Trump truly stunned me."
The lawyer, whose LinkedIn page says that he has worked for the Trump Organization for more than eight years, had appeared to double down on his words.
New York's marital exemption law regarding rape ended in 1984.
"This is an event that has been widely reported on in the past, it is old news and it never happened," a Trump spokesman said.
"It is a standard lawyer technique, which was used to exploit more money from Mr. Trump - especially since he had an ironclad prenuptial agreement.
"It is just a way for the badly failing and money losing Daily Beast, which has been reporting inaccurately on Mr Trump for years, to get some publicity for itself."
The alleged violent sexual encounter revealed in the book by reporter Harry Hurt III was said to have stemmed from a incident where the future presidential candidate became mad after a plastic surgeon used by Ivana left her husband in pain from a bald spot removal operation.
"Your f***ing doctor has ruined me," Trump allegedly said before what the book describes as a 'violent assault' where he tore out pieces of her hair and 'jams his penis inside her for the first time in more than 16 months'.
Ivana allegedly told her "closest confidantes" that her husband had raped her.
She later clarified her words in a foreword to the book saying: "[O]n one occasion during 1989, Mr Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage.
"As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a 'rape,' but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense."
A Notice to the Reader on the book said that Ivana's statement "does not contradict or invalidate any information contained in this book".
Donald Trump denied the allegation in 1993, criticized it as "obviously false" and labeled Hurt III as having no talent.
The divorce was ultimately granted on Trump's 'cruel and inhuman treatment' of his wife. She is legally barred from speaking about the marriage without his permission.
- Daily Mail
