Melania nude photo 'nothing to be embarrassed about,' Trump adviser says

NEW YORK -- A key adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says there's no problem with the New York Post's publication of a nude photograph of Melania Trump on its Sunday cover.

"They're a celebration of the human body as art," Jason Miller, the Trump campaign's senior communications adviser, said on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about," Miller said. "She's a beautiful woman."

The Post published several nude photos -- which were reportedly taken in 1995 and appeared in a now-defunct French men's magazine -- that had not previously been published online. The headline on its cover was "The Ogle Office."

According to an article about the photographs, Trump told the Post, "Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common." Similarly, on "Reliable Sources," Miller noted, "These were photos that are 20 years old, before Mrs. Trump met Mr. Trump."

Trump married Melania in 2005. His two prior marriages were also to models: Ivana Zelníčková and Marla Maples. Trump's numerous business ventures also include a modeling agency called Trump Model Management.

The Post -- which endorsed Trump for the Republican nomination in April -- also profiled the photographer behind the images, Jarl Alé Alexandre de Basseville, who now denounces the fashion industry.

"I am completely against this world, and I don't understand why the girls f- -k with old guys to afford a Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermès bags," he told the Post. "The fashion industry has become the biggest pimp ever."

But De Basseville defended the nude photographs of Melania Trump, calling them "a celebration of the female body."

Donald Trump has been the target of extensive criticism regarding numerous sexist comments he's made, both prior to and during his campaign.