A senior aide to Donald Trump has failed in a bid to have a daily newspaper admonished for its coverage of a story about the US President.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation has rejected fresh complaints about The Scotsman’s coverage of a speech made in Glasgow by Sarah Malone, executive vice president at Trump International Scotland.

HTFP reported in May how IPSO had turned down a complaint by Thomas Malone, Ms Malone’s father, who claimed the Edinburgh-based daily had breached the Editors’ Code of Practice because a Scotsman reporter had secretly made an audio recording of the speech.

But the watchdog has now rejected two further complaints  about the story by Trump International Scotland and by Ms Malone herself, although she is unnamed in IPSO’s adjudication on the matter.

The story in question concerned an event held in a church at which Ms Malone and other speakers discussed the president, pictured, and his business dealings in Scotland.

The complaints were brought under Clauses 1 (Accuracy), 3 (Harassment), 10 (Clandestine devices and subterfuge) and 12 (Discrimination) of the Code.

In the first complaint, in which Ms Malone represented Trump International Scotland, she claimed there was no public interest in the reporter, who had used a false name to gain access to the event, publishing the remarks she had made.

Ms Malone claimed the reporter appeared to have an “agenda” against the business and frequently criticised it on his social media accounts, which she said had led to him being blocked by several of the organisation’s Twitter accounts due his “relentless negative and sarcastic remarks”.

In her second complaint, Ms Malone said the story breached Clause 2 by reporting the comments she made about her faith, about which she had chosen not to talk publicly before, and claimed the event was intended to be a “safe space” for attendees to talk about their faith freely without the expectation that their comments would be reported.

She further claimed this information constituted discrimination against her based on her Christian faith.

In response to the Trump International Scotland complaint, The Scotsman accepted that Clause 10(ii) was engaged to a limited degree, but said that there was sufficient public interest to justify the behaviour of the reporter.

In response to Ms Malone’s complaint, the paper said the event did not constitute a church service and was a ticketed event where the speakers were discussing their experiences of working with Mr Trump, Trump International Scotland’s business dealings and promoting a book which was also for sale at the event.

The Scotsman said Ms Malone did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy over the comments she made at the event and claimed there was a public interest in reporting comments relating to Mr Trump.

It did not accept that the article was pejorative in any way towards the complainant’s faith – it simply reported her comments without any other commentary of any kind.

IPSO found there was a public interest in reporting on the event and found Ms Malone did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy over the comments she made about her religion whilst as a speaker at the event.

The complaints were not upheld, and the full adjudications can be read here.