The woman’s claim contradicts Melania Trump’s memoir’s version of her meet-cute with her billionaire husband, as well as what he has said about how they became a couple. The White House pointed to a previous warning from the Department of Justice that the Epstein files may contain untrue information.
Last year, the first lady threatened to sue longtime Trump biographer Michael Wolff for $1 billion after he said in an episode of The Daily Beast Podcast that she was “very involved” in Epstein’s social circle. Wolff had said that Trump and Melania met in 1998 through Paolo Zampolli, Melania’s agent at the time. The author responded to the threat by launching a lawsuit against the first lady, using free speech laws to accuse her of attempting to unlawfully silence him. Melania Trump is trying to have the lawsuit struck down by claiming she has not been properly served.
The bombshell claim about the couple’s origin story appeared in an FBI record dated November 2019, which details a July interview with a woman whose name was redacted—and who was given immunity to speak. The document is heavily redacted and suggests that the woman was treated as a victim of sexual assault, as well as a witness who offered horrific details of Epstein’s regime of sexual assault at on his private island.
DailyBeast
If the fairy tale were true, it wouldn’t keep springing redacted footnotes with Epstein’s name on them.
https://m.dogsarefamily.org/melania-trumps-chilling-prediction-about-her-life-as-first-lady-revealed-in-resurfaced-interview-nearly-two-decades-before-husband-donald-became-president.htm
Melania Trump ‘furious’ over Barron’s leaked late-night call with pastor
Epstein Assistant Told Feds He Introduced Melania to Trump, Files Reveal
A one-time assistant to Jeffrey Epstein told the FBI effectively under penalty of perjury that the pedophile introduced Donald Trump to his wife Melania, a newly released document shows.
The unnamed woman, a former model who worked as Epstein’s assistant for a year from 2005 to 2006, made the claim in July 2019, three days after her old boss was arrested by the FBI and charged with child sex trafficking. The 11-page, heavily redacted document was published in Friday’s dump of three million Epstein files and uncovered on Monday.
The woman’s claim contradicts Melania Trump’s memoir’s version of her meet-cute with her billionaire husband, as well as what he has said about how they became a couple. The White House pointed to a previous warning from the Department of Justice that the Epstein files may contain untrue information.
Last year, the first lady threatened to sue longtime Trump biographer Michael Wolff for $1 billion after he said in an episode of The Daily Beast Podcast that she was “very involved” in Epstein’s social circle. Wolff had said that Trump and Melania met in 1998 through Paolo Zampolli, Melania’s agent at the time. The author responded to the threat by launching a lawsuit against the first lady, using free speech laws to accuse her of attempting to unlawfully silence him. Melania Trump is trying to have the lawsuit struck down by claiming she has not been properly served.
The bombshell claim about the couple’s origin story appeared in an FBI record dated November 2019, which details a July interview with a woman whose name was redacted—and who was given immunity to speak. The document is heavily redacted and suggests that the woman was treated as a victim of sexual assault, as well as a witness who offered horrific details of Epstein’s regime of sexual assault at on his private island.
The interview was with both FBI agents and career federal prosecutors, and is recorded as a “proffer agreement.” A “proffer” is when a witness gives evidence they assert is truthful in return for an agreement not to be prosecuted, or some other limited form of immunity. The document does not say what she was offered immunity from. Making a false statement to the FBI can lead to up to five years in prison.
The woman said she had been modeling when she took a job offered by Epstein around 2005. She spent about a year traveling with him as his assistant, with her last assignment being a trip to Paris in 2006.
“[Redacted] put [redacted] in contact with an agent named PAOLO ZEMPOLI who worked with ‘ID Models,’” the second page of the document began. It appeared to be referring to Paolo Zampolli, Melania’s former modelling agent, whom Trump appointed as special envoy for global partnerships last year.
Several lines of text were redacted before continuing: “ZEMPOLI was trying to buy Elite Models with EPSTEIN. EPSTEIN introduced MELANIA TRUMP to DONALD TRUMP.”
The 11-page document included details of the woman’s employment under Epstein, and her own victimization, including an instance where she recalled “being tearful in the car” after the late pedophile “took a ‘vibrating thing’ and rubbed it on her.”
The woman’s claim contradicts years of reports crediting Zampolli with introducing Melania to Trump during a party he hosted at the Kit Kat Club in 1998. It also goes against the 55-year-old first lady’s eponymous memoir published in 2024.
“I saw my friend wave at someone behind me. When I turned around, I noticed a man and an attractive blonde woman approaching us,” she wrote. “‘Hi. I’m Donald Trump,’ the man said when he reached my table. ‘Nice to meet you.’ I recognized the name, and I knew he was a businessman or celebrity, but not much else. He put his hand out to shake mine.”
“‘Hello,’ I replied. ‘I’m Melania.’ His eyes filled with curiosity and interest, and, seizing the opportunity, he took the seat next to mine and started a conversation.”
In a 2005 interview with CNN’s Larry King, the then-newlyweds recounted their first meeting.
“Did you like her right away?” the legendary host asked Trump.
“I went crazy,” he replied. “I was actually supposed to meet somebody else. There was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania. I was supposed to meet the supermodel, and they were saying, ‘Look, there’s so and so.’ I said, ‘Forget about her. Who’s the one on the left?’ and it was Melania.”
Zampolli is now the State Department’s “special envoy for global partnerships.” The Italian-born former model agent has long been a fixture in Trump’s circle.
The threat to sue Wolff was not the only one which Melania’s attorneys have made. She also threatened to sue Hunter Biden for $1 billion after he cited Wolff’s claims in an interview.
When asked about the threat to sue Hunter, Trump told Fox News in April 2025 that the disgraced financier, who was his close friend for years, had “nothing to do” with Melania. “Jeffrey Epstein had nothing to do with Melania and introducing [us]. But they do that to demean—they make up stories,” he said. “I mean, I can tell you exactly how it was: It was another person, actually. I did meet [her] through another person, but it wasn’t Jeffrey Epstein.”
The Daily Beast retracted a story based on Wolff’s statements on the podcast, writing in an editor’s note that “the First Lady points to her best-selling book Melania as the definitive account of her life story.”
A White House official pointed the Daily Beast to a January press release from the Justice Department when asked for comment about the FBI document that appeared in the Epstein files.
“This production may include fake or falsely submitted images, documents or videos, as everything that was sent to the FBI by the public was included in the production that is responsive to the Act,” it read. “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”
Documentary on First Lady Melania Trump Sees Sluggish Sales
Despite President Donald Trump’s claims that the documentary about Melania Trump is “selling out,” ticket sales figures and box office forecasts suggest a much less optimistic situation.
According to Forbes, the documentary on First Lady Melania Trump is scheduled for theatrical release on January 30. On the social media platform Truth Social, President Donald Trump called the film a “must-see” and urged audiences to buy tickets immediately because they were “selling out fast.”
However, revenue forecasts and ticket sales in many major cities indicate the film is unlikely to create a box office hit as advertised.
‘She’s the one that matters’: the growing influence of Melania on Donald Trump
Did Melania Trump Fail with the Documentary Release?
Melania will be released in at least 1,400 theaters across the United States and in more than 27 countries—a very large scale for a documentary. Amazon MGM Studios spent approximately $40 million to acquire the film’s rights, plus an additional $35 million for marketing and distribution.
Even so, opening weekend revenue forecasts are quite modest. The market research firm National Research Group estimates the film will only gross about $5 million in its first week, while Boxoffice Pro predicts the figure could even fluctuate between $1 million and $2 million.
On social media, many users have shared images showing low ticket sales at major theaters. In Boston, only exactly one ticket was sold despite there being three screenings on the night of January 30 at the city’s largest AMC theater.
During the same time slot, a large Cinemark theater in Jacksonville, Florida, was completely empty, and as of the morning of February 3, this situation remained unchanged.
In New York, the 6:45 PM screening on January 30 at the AMC Lincoln Square sold only 45 out of 122 seats, equivalent to over 36%. Other screenings were even bleaker. The 7:45 PM show at AMC Times Square sold only 6 out of 99 seats, while the 7:30 PM show at Regal Times Square sold 5 out of 88 seats, both at around 6%.
In the UK, Tim Richards, CEO of the Vue cinema chain, stated that ticket sales for Melania are at a weak level.
Previously, a private screening of the film was held at the White House with the attendance of many famous figures, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, New York Stock Exchange CEO Lynn Martin, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, and Queen Rania of Jordan.
Director Brett Ratner also attended the event. This is his first project after more than a decade of nearly disappearing from Hollywood due to sexual assault allegations during the height of the #MeToo movement.
At the screening, guests were served popcorn in black-and-white boxes, souvenir tickets, cookies printed with Melania’s name, and copies of her memoir of the same title.
Melania centers on the 20 days leading up to the second inauguration of Mr. Trump and Melania Trump.
According to the introduction from Amazon MGM Studios, the film captures the 20-day process of Melania coordinating preparations for Mr. Trump’s inauguration, handling the complexities of the White House transition, and bringing the family back to Washington.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Brett Ratner lived at Mar-a-Lago throughout the filming process. An article by Rolling Stone cited anonymous production crew members describing the film’s behind-the-scenes as “chaotic.”
Some felt uncomfortable with the film’s propagandistic tone and believed the biggest issue was not Melania, but Brett Ratner himself. Reportedly, according to one source, on set “people talked about Brett Ratner’s sleaziness more than they talked about Melania.”
Melania Trump’s Chilling Prediction About Her Life as First Lady Revealed in Resurfaced Interview — Nearly Two Decades Before Husband Donald Became President
In an eerie instance of foreshadowing, Melania Trump once beamed about the possibility of becoming the First Lady of the United States, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
However, critics argue she seems to have forgotten about her pledge to participate in “social obligations,” as the former model is rarely seen at her presidential husband‘s side.
Melania Predicts the Future
Way back in 1999, then 26-year-old Melania Knauss sat down with ABC News correspondent Don Dahler following a photo shoot. She had just met Donald the year before at a party during New York Fashion Week.
In the resurfaced interview, Melania was asked point-blank if she could picture herself as the first lady.
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation, adding: “I would be very traditional, like Jackie Kennedy.” She also swore to stand by her man, saying: “I would support him. I will do a lot of social obligations.”
At the time, she said she would like to work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and other charitable causes. But as she enters the second year of her second term in the White House, her attitude about the job appears to have changed.
Melania’s Mystery Agenda
During her first term, Melania launched her Be Best initiative to focus on the health of children, the importance of social, emotional, and physical health of children.
Since then, critics have questioned her commitment to her “social obligations.” Even the Don admits he doesn’t know what she has planned.
Melania ended 2025 teasing reporters: “I hope you will be excited to support my new legislative initiative in 2026. Some of you already know about it because it’s already in the works.”
But she has yet to detail that initiative, and President Trump revealed he was perplexed by her plans.
“Well, I just heard about that for the first time,” Trump said, before turning to House Speaker Mike Johnson. “The only thing I can tell you—I know one thing for sure, Mr. Speaker, it’s going to be great for children, okay? I don’t know what it is she’s doing, but I know it’s going to be great for children, because she loves children.”
Signs of Relationship Trouble
She may love children, but there are growing signs and speculation that Melania no longer loves Donald.
After the pair appeared together in December 2025 to field Christmas calls from children, a body language expert revealed to RadarOnline.comMelania seemingly wants “out.”
Body Language Expert and Behavior Analyst Traci Brown noticed Melania’s legs were “crossed away” from Donald as they sat next to each other.
“We will cross our legs and point our feet at people that we are paying attention to or places we want to go,” she shared. “It’s likely she wants to leave.”
‘Completely Separate Lives’
Meanwhile, the couple is living “completely separate lives,” according to Rob Shuter’s Substack,as Trump and Melania will only continue to go in different directions once they leave the White House for good.
“Melania simply cannot live under the same roof with Donald,” a source explained. “They’ve been operating this way for years, separate bedrooms, separate schedules, separate worlds.”
Others have noted a distinct lack of PDA between the first couple.
“Hand-holding, hugs – she shuts it down every time. This didn’t start yesterday. It’s been years,” one insider said, as another echoed: “Melania has her life, Donald has his. They show up together when required, but emotionally? She checked out a long time ago.”
‘Disrespectful’ Trump Accused of Leaving Wife Melania in the Rain to ‘Protect His Spray Tan’ in Resurfaced Clip of First Couple
Donald Trump has been branded a “disrespectful” husband after a resurfaced video showed him using an umbrella to shield himself from rain while First Lady Melania was left to fend for herself, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Critics online ripped apart any claims about the president being a gentleman as they accused Trump, 79, of only looking out for himself and his spray tan.
The Don ‘Disrespects’ Melania
Donald left Melania out in the rain to answer questions from reporters outside the White House.
In a clip of the resurfaced video shared on Instagram, Trump is wearing a black bomber jacket, khaki pants and a white polo.
Trump clutched an umbrella and a red “USA” baseball cap in one hand and held Melania’s hand in the other as they moved past a group of reporters outside the White House.
While Melania looked eager to bypass the press, Trump stopped to answer questions – and seemingly forget about the elements as he chatted with reporters while his wife stood in the rain.
He dropped Melania’s hand and repositioned the umbrella over himself as he told reporters, “She did a great job on television the other night,” while motioning to his wife.
Critics Claim Donald’s More Worried About ‘His Tan’ Than Melania
“And I didn’t do so bad either,” the president continued. “But she did a great job on television.”
Trump eventually got the hint and retreated back to Melania, who could be seen wiping raindrops off her face.
But as cameras followed the first couple walking away, critics noted how Trump continued to use the umbrella to shield only himself from the nasty weather.
“He was probably scared his tan would wash off,” one social media user commented on the video, while a second echoed, “He was probably scared his tan would wash off.”
“It’s honestly just a lack of respect,” a third charged as a fourth asked, “What man lets his woman get wet in the rain?”
“As always, he thinks and cares about no one except himself,” another wrote as someone else chimed in, “This man is no gentleman at all he hogging up the whole umbrella for himself and didn’t even cover his wife!”
As RadarOnline.com reported, Trump recently confessed Melania found his behavior “unpresidential” as rumors swirled about the state of their marriage.
While chatting about Melania during a speech at the GOP House members meeting, the president admitted the first lady “hates when” he dances before proceeding to bust out his moves for the crowd.
Donald and Melania’s Marriage Woes
“She said it’s so unpresidential,” Trump told House GOP members. “I said, ‘But I did become president.’ She hates when I dance. I said, ‘Everybody wants me to dance.’ Darling, it’s not presidential.”
He further claimed Melania told him his “weightlifting” bit was “terrible” in reference to the bizarre reenactment he’s repeated while raging about transgender athletes.
Trump’s confession about Melania’s criticism came after an insider claimed the 55-year-old “simply cannot live under the same roof” as her husband.
According to an insider, Donald and his third wife have been living “completely separate lives.”
“Melania simply cannot live under the same roof with Donald,” the source told Hollywood insider Rob Shuter, who writes on Substack. “They’ve been operating this way for years, separate bedrooms, separate schedules, separate worlds.”
When his second term ends, Donald allegedly plans to move back to Florida full-time, while Melania has apparently made it “crystal clear” she’ll be living in New York City.
“She wants her own space and her own life – period,” the source claimed as another described the marriage as being purely “transactional.”
Donald and Melania Trump Return to ‘Doing Their Own Thing’ Between Appearances, but They Do Have 1 Hobby in Common (Exclusive Source)
Responding to PEOPLE’s reporting, the White House says “the Trump Family is the most successful family of all time”
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NEED TO KNOW
- A source tells PEOPLE that first lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump rarely relish in quality time beyond “what is expected”
- Yet, the couple do have a shared interest that brings them close, the source says
- The first lady and the president recently celebrated New Year’s Eve together and shared a New Year’s kiss at midnight while hosting a party at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.
First lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump may keep their own separate schedules, but the couple do bond over a shared interest, a source tells PEOPLE.
Melania, 55, and her husband, 79, share a love for interior design, a political and social source says, noting that Donald considers himself to be a talented designer with a knack for transforming a space even better than a professional could.
“Donald has his own vision for his homes and clubs, and over the years has designed and selected a lot of the furnishings and finishings himself at Mar-a-Lago and the golf clubs,” the source tells PEOPLE. “He and Melania have that in common. They both love interior design.”
The source claims the couple don’t spend much time together otherwise, beyond their joint public appearances.
“There is little interaction between them, just what is expected,” the source says. ”Then they go back to doing their own thing.”
Responding to the source’s claim, White House spokesman Davis Ingle tells PEOPLE, “President Trump and the entire administration work 24/7 for the American people to deliver on the promise to Make America Great Again. The Trump Family is the most successful family of all time.”
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A social source told PEOPLE one month into Donald’s second term that the president and first lady split their time between their residences and both “have quarters in the White House,” but that Melania “leads her own life and joins him when appropriate.”
That source said at the time that when Melania is in Palm Beach, she typically “keeps to herself” but does accompany her husband to dinner “on occasion.”
An insider tells PEOPLE that the couple did kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve while ringing in 2026 at a party held at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.
“Melania was happy and enjoying the night while the president looked bored and tired, but was nice to the guests and wishing them well,” the source tells PEOPLE.
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Donald has been keeping busy with the design of his new White House ballroom, a $400 million, 90,000-square-foot project. The president, who likes to go look at options for redesign himself, even spent time over the holiday visiting Arc Stone & Tile, a retail marble store in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., which is located close to Mar-a-Lago, according to local reports.
Donald revealed during a Hanukkah reception at the White House in December 2025 that a federal judge allowed construction on the project to move ahead, thanking the official for clearing the way and describing their ruling as an act of “courage.”
“We’re donating a $400 million ballroom,” the president said at the event, according to footage shared by C-SPAN. “Myself and donors are giving them, free of charge, for nothing.”
Donald was previously sued by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The group argued that construction on the ballroom began before plans were submitted to required federal review bodies, and also without congressional approval, as is typically required.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rejected the group’s request to temporarily halt construction, but said he would hold a hearing in January on the group’s request for a preliminary injunction. He also warned the Trump administration against making underground construction decisions that could lock in the design of the ballroom.
The president and first lady made multiple joint appearances over the last few months, including when she joined him to ceremoniously sign an executive order. Later that month, she and the president appeared together once again to pardon a turkey on Thanksgiving.
Melania and Donald also arrived together for the annual Congressional Ball in Washington, D.C., in December, where the president admitted he was unaware of the first lady’s latest work in the White House.
After Melania spoke briefly at the event about her “new legislative initiative,” Donald quipped, “Well, I just heard about that for the first time,” adding, “I don’t know what it is she’s doing, but I know it’s going to be great for children.”
Melania Trump Reveals Months-Long Private Talks With Vladimir Putin Over Reuniting Ukrainian Children
Melania Trump Reveals Months-Long Private Talks With Vladimir Putin Over Reuniting Ukrainian Children
First Lady Melania Trump has disclosed that she has maintained direct contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin for several months in a rare humanitarian effort between Washington and Moscow, aimed at reuniting Ukrainian children separated by the war with their families.
According to the First Lady, her behind-the-scenes diplomacy began last August when she sent a personal letter to President Putin. “He responded in writing, expressing a willingness to cooperate directly with me,” Mrs. Trump said on October 10. Since then, she added, the two sides have kept “an open channel of communication focused on the welfare of these children.”
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Moscow has evacuated thousands of children from war zones to what it describes as safe areas while awaiting reunification. Kyiv, however, has accused Russia of “abducting” Ukrainian minors — an allegation Moscow denies.
Mrs. Trump said several meetings and private exchanges had taken place over the past three months “all conducted in good faith.” These efforts, she noted, led to the reunification of eight Ukrainian children with their families within the past 24 hours.
“Each of these children has lived through crisis,” she said. Three were separated from their parents amid fighting on the front lines and taken to Russia, while five others had been divided from relatives scattered across different countries. Among them, she added, was “a young girl who has just been reunited from Ukraine to Russia.”
The First Lady said her representatives worked directly with Putin’s team to facilitate the reunions, and that the Russian side provided full documentation — including personal histories, photographs, and reports on the children’s care. “The U.S. government has verified that the information in these files is accurate,” she added.
Mrs. Trump described her mission as one of “maximizing transparent, free exchange of health and welfare information” and “ensuring children can maintain regular contact with their families until all are safely home.”
“This is an ongoing effort,” she concluded. “Plans are already underway to bring more children back. I hope peace will come soon. Every good thing can begin with our children.”
Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, issued a statement of gratitude to the U.S. First Lady for her humanitarian initiative.
“I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the First Lady of the United States for her compassion and concern for families whose children have been affected by the military conflict,” Lvova-Belova said in a video message on October 10.
Melania Trump Threatens to Sue Hunter Biden for $1 Billion Over Epstein Claim
First Lady Melania Trump has threatened to sue Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, for more than $1 billion in damages after he claimed that she met Donald Trump through convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Melania Threatens Lawsuit, Hunter Stands Firm
The First Lady’s attorney, representing Mrs. Trump—who married Donald Trump in 2005—called Hunter Biden’s remarks “false, defamatory, malicious, and inflammatory.”
Hunter Biden made the statement earlier this month during an interview, and on Thursday (August 14), he doubled down, defending himself and showing no signs of backing down despite the First Lady’s legal threat.
Donald Trump had once been acquainted with Epstein but has long claimed he severed ties with him in the early 2000s after Epstein attempted to recruit staff from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort spa in Florida.
In a letter sent to Hunter Biden’s attorney, Mrs. Trump’s legal team demanded that he retract the statement and issue a public apology—or face a lawsuit seeking “over $1 billion in damages.”
According to the letter, Hunter Biden’s accusation caused Melania Trump “enormous financial and reputational harm.” The letter also accused Hunter of “habitually exploiting the names of others for personal gain” and of reviving this claim “to draw attention to himself.”
In an interview with filmmaker Andrew Callaghan in early August, Hunter Biden had said that unreleased documents related to Jeffrey Epstein would “implicate Donald Trump,” adding: “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump — that’s how deep their connection ran.”
Story Retracted, But Hunter Refuses to Apologize
The First Lady’s legal letter pointed out that part of Hunter’s claim stemmed from journalist Michael Wolff, author of several critical biographies about Donald Trump.
According to U.S. media reports, Wolff recently told The Daily Beast that Melania had known Epstein and one of Trump’s associates prior to meeting her husband.
However, The Daily Beast later retracted the story after receiving a letter from Melania Trump’s lawyers challenging its accuracy and framing.
When asked on Andrew Callaghan’s Channel 5 YouTube program whether he intended to apologize to Mrs. Trump, Hunter Biden replied, “No!”
In the interview, which aired on Thursday (August 14), Hunter dismissed the lawsuit threat as “nothing more than a distraction tactic,” but added that if the case went to court, he would welcome the opportunity to question the Trumps under oath — “something I’d be more than happy to make happen,” he said.
No evidence has ever surfaced suggesting that Donald and Melania Trump met through Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
In the First Lady’s legal correspondence, Hunter Biden was accused of relying on a now-deleted Daily Beast article to support his claim, which Melania’s team called “false and defamatory.”
An archived note on The Daily Beast’s website reads: “After publication, The Daily Beast received a letter from Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the story’s headline and content. Upon review, the article was removed, and we apologize for any confusion or misunderstanding it may have caused.”
When asked for comment about the lawsuit threat, Melania Trump’s attorney Alejandro Brito shared a statement from her aide, Nick Clemens, who said: “The First Lady’s legal counsel is working to ensure that those who spread malicious lies and defamation retract their statements immediately and issue public apologies.”
In a Harper’s Bazaar profile published in January 2016, Melania recounted that she first met Donald Trump in November 1998 at a party hosted by the founder of a modeling agency.
At the time, Melania, then 28, said she refused to give Trump her phone number because she was dating someone else. The article also noted that Trump was separated from his second wife, Marla Maples, and finalized their divorce in 1999. He had previously been married to his first wife, Ivana Trump, from 1977 to 1990.
Melania Trump says she has an ‘open channel’ to Putin on Ukrainian children, and some have been reunited with family
First lady Melania Trump said Friday that Russia has allowed eight Ukrainian children to reunite with their parents, following months of private discussions between Russian officials and the first lady’s office centered on children separated from their families during the war.
The first lady revealed that she and Russian President Vladimir Putin have had an “open channel” of communication since she wrote him a letter in August about the impact of the war in Ukraine on kids. She said the eight children were all returned to their families over the last 24 hours, with a commitment that the two sides will continue to work toward reunifying additional children displaced as part of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“This remains an ongoing effort,” Melania Trump said in a brief speech at the White House. “Plans are already underway to reunify more children in the immediate future. I hope peace will come soon. It can begin with our children.”
The first lady’s announcement comes as the Trump administration, however, has cut funding to a leading organization that tracks evidence of Russian war crimes, including the forced relocation of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children.
The Ukraine Conflict Observatory was run by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab and established with State Department backing in 2022 “to capture, analyze, and make widely available evidence of Russia-perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine.”
The group produced reports on a slew of alleged Russian war crimes, including the extent of Moscow’s efforts to relocate, re-educate, and sometimes militarily train or forcibly adopt out Ukrainian children.
Their database included the information and identities of over 30,000 Ukrainian children who were allegedly abducted by Russia across 100 locations, according to a source familiar with the data.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the alleged war crime of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children.
As CNN reported in March, the administration terminated financial support for the Ukraine Conflict Observatory. Funding was temporarily restored later that month to allow the repository of evidence on the alleged Russian war crimes to be sent to the European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol.
In June, a group of lawmakers called on the State Department to disburse approximately $8 million that the agency told Congress in late 2024 would be used to support the Ukraine Conflict Observatory’s work. Two congressional aides said at the time that to their knowledge, the funding has not been disbursed.
The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab has raised enough money through private donations to continue their work until January 1, their executive director said, but they don’t know what will happen after that.
‘Open channel of communication’ with Putin
President Donald Trump hand-delivered a “peace” letter on behalf of the first lady to Putin in August. The letter did not specifically reference the thousands of Ukrainian children who have allegedly been abducted by Russia since the war began, but urged Putin to consider the impact the conflict was having on children in general.
Putin responded to Melania Trump in writing, the first lady said Friday, offering details about the Ukrainian children in Russia and offering to talk directly about the issue.
“Since then, President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication regarding the welfare of these children,” Melania Trump said. “We have agreed to cooperate with each other for the benefit of all people involved in this war.”
In addition to releasing the eight children, Melania Trump said that Russian officials have provided updates on the identities of some children and the social and medical services that they’re receiving. She added that she’s also pressed the country over those Ukrainians who were minors when the war started, but are now adults and still residing in Russia. Russian officials have agreed to work toward rejoining those adults in the near future, Melania Trump said.
“My ongoing mission is twofold: To optimize a transparent free-flow exchange of health-related information surrounding all children who have (fallen) victim to this war,” Trump said, “and to facilitate the regular reunification of children with their families until each individual returns home.”
In a social media post Saturday, Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said that his country is “deeply grateful” to the first lady for her “compassion and genuine involvement in the effort to bring Ukrainian children back home.”
“Yet there is still so much work ahead. Every day, Russia’s war takes more innocent lives,” he said, naming seven-year-old Makar Dorosh, who was killed in an airstrike in Zaporizhzhia on Friday, as an example of this.
“Thousands of others remain in danger: deported, trafficked, indoctrinated, stripped of their identity, or forced to live under constant threat of attack — all robbed of their childhoods,” he said.
“Russia is the architect of this tragedy. And it must bear full responsibility for every life taken, every child stolen, and every childhood destroyed,” Yermak added.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2)/catherine-ohara-013026-7-4b5b413a646d4f15a1fd15ac8b933811.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "Catherine O’Hara was being treated for cancer when she died of a pulmonary embolism, death certificate says")
