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Melania Trump’s 15-Carat Engagement Ring Didn't Cost What Donald Trump Said It Did

What President Donald Trump said he paid for Melania Trump's 15-carat emerald-cut diamond engagement ring is inaccurate, the jeweler who sold it now says.

In 2005 Donald Trump told The New York Times that Graff Diamonds slashed the price of the jewel by a million dollars since selling it to him would stir up publicity. “Only a fool would say, ‘No thank you, I want you to pay a million dollars more for a diamond,” he said in the original article, which listed the ring at a retail value of $1.5 million.

But according to a new report from Forbes, the president was actually never given the $1 million discount in the deal he boasted about over a decade ago.

So what’s the real cost of Melania's engagement ring?

The folks at the jeweler are now clearing the air. In an email obtained by Forbes, Graff Diamonds Chairman Laurence Graff says Donald was “a pleasure to do business with” but that he was never given “no favors” back in 2005.”

Graff CFO Nicholas Paine adds, “We don’t sell items for publicity value.” However, the jewelers did not confirm the real sum he paid for the ring.

VIDEO: Trump Stares Directly Into Sun Without Glasses During Solar Eclipse

Forbes also reports that a third source pointed out the fact that Trump did, in fact, lie about the discount in the Times piece. “He paid for [the ring] in full, and he paid immediately,” the source told the outlet.

According to Forbes, Trump also paid a lump sum of $3 million for the 25-carat Graff diamond ring he purchased Melania for their 10th wedding anniversary.

This second ring stirred up controversy after Melania wore it in her official First Lady portrait, released April 2017.

Some argued that the choice to wear such an expensive piece showed a lack of empathy for hard-working taxpayers.

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