Donald Trump and his Miss Universe pageant have launched an official investigation into accusations that the pageant is in any way fixed to crown a specific champion.
On Wednesday Mr. Trump says the organization is planning to sue former Miss Pennsylvania competitor Sheena Monnin who claims another contestant had seen a list containing the top 5 contestants before they were officially announced.
In her statement Monning, who has now dropped out of the competition said the Miss Universe pageant is “fraudulent, lacking in morals, inconsistent, and in many ways trashy.”
Talking on Today on Wednesday morning Mr. Trump fired back at the former contestant, calling her comments “ridiculous.”
Acknowledging his plans for legal action Donald Trump said:
“What we’ve authorized today is we’re going to bring a lawsuit … She said some really strong things. When she’s using the word ‘fraud,’ that’s pretty strong, so we’re going to be suing her on that basis.”
Donald Trump also revealed that the woman who Monnin said told her about the top 5 contestant list adamantly denies revealing such information to the former contestant.
Firing accusations back at the Sheena Monnin, a representative for Miss Universe says she dropped out of the competition because she disagreed with the organizations ruling which allows transgender women to compete for the Miss Universe crown. Miss Universe amended their rule book this year so Miss Universe Canada Jenna Talackova could compete after undergoing a sex change operation four years ago.
The Miss Universe competition is use to dealing with scandal but typically it comes in the form of crowned Miss Universe winners who end up with questionable past records.
