Melania Trump steps out for a rare interview and breaks silence on the two attempts on her husband’s life, her marriage, the 2022 Mar-a-Lago raid and more.
US First Lady Melania Trump speaks before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on January 20, 2021. While her husband is busy on the campaign trail in the final weeks of the presidential race, Melania Trump is involved in a different kind of campaign: promoting her forthcoming book. (AFP)
Former First Lady Melania Trump is wholeheartedly committed to telling “The Truth” in her “deeply personal” self-titled memoir. However, she has barely spoken out about the attempts on her husband’s life within the past few months. As she continues the promotional affair for her book, ‘Melania,’ she will be stepping out for a rare interview with ‘Fox and Friends,’ which will be aired early morning on Thursday (US time). And this time, she will finally reflect on the two recent assassination attempts targetting former President Donald Trump.
According to the previews of the new Melania Trump interview, the interview digs right into the near-fateful July 13 incident when would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally, leaving the ex-president with a bloody ear. Although this case has been discussed on and on, the more recent attempted assassination suspected to be carried out by Ryan Wesley Routh at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course on September 15 has fuelled the conversation surrounding security issues again.
While Trump had previously addressed his wife and son, Barron’s reaction to the July 13 incident during an appearance on Fox News’ Life, Liberty & Levin, this time, Melania sets the record straight herself.
Melania Trump opens up about Trump’s assassination attempts
The former model confirms that she had to rewind the footage on the TV as she had initially turned off the broadcast to focus on her work. “I was only a few minutes behind…I didn’t really see live live, but three minutes… few minutes later,” she says in the preview. “When I saw it… nobody really knew yet because when you see him on the floor and you don’t know… you don’t know what really happened.”
When asked about the golf course incident, Melania Trump says she was in New York City then. “I saw it on the television…I called again and he was okay because Secret Service was great. The guys that were with him they were fantastic.”
She goes on about both assassination attempts: “I think both of the events were really miracles… If you really think about it, the July 13 was a miracle… Like that much and he could not be with us.”
Melania Trump on Mar-a-Lago raid
Additionally, the former First Lady again recounts the “invasive” FBI raids at the Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022. “It made me angry… the invasion of privacy and the way it was done was, I was really surprised,” Melania adds
“I saw unpleasant stuff that nobody wants to see it. You get angry because nobody should be putting up with that kind of stuff. Some person, I don’t even know who or how many people, they went through my stuff,” she says of what it felt to walk back into her house that had been raided.
As far as the previews go, Melania Trump’s latest interview works as an extension of the responses she has offered while simultaneously releasing video messages for her new memoir. The detailed interaction, which airs from 6-9 am on ‘Fox and Friends’, is expected to cover wide-ranging topics like her marriage, the presidential campaign and more.
Could the once united Trump family be fading in this election?
While Don Jr is influential behind the scenes, Ivanka and Melania have been notably absent during this campaign
In late afternoon sunshine, Eric Trump shook his fist and led chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” The second son of Donald Trump told a fervent crowd: “They tried to smear us, they tried to bankrupt us, they came after us, they impeached him twice … then, guys, they tried to kill him.”
A who’s who of the Maga movement had gathered for a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, less than three months after the Republican presidential nominee survived an assassination attempt there. Trump was joined on stage by running mate JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk. But if he was looking for moral support from his family, he would have to settle for Eric. His other children – and his wife – were notably absent.
The no-shows at Trump’s recent marquee event were indicative of a divided family keeping a lower profile than in past election cycles. When he took the political establishment by storm in 2016, the Trump family business was part of his brand. This time, at campaign stops where he gives disjointed and demagogic speeches, he cuts a more isolated figure.
Trump’s elder daughter, Ivanka, is sitting the election out while his younger daughter, Tiffany, is pregnant. His youngest son, Barron, 18, has begun his freshman year of college at New York University. Eric, executive vice-president of the Trump Organization, makes occasional appearances on the campaign trail alongside his wife, Lara, who is now co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
“I get to go to bed every single night and wake up every single morning listening about voter integrity,” Eric, 40, joked in Butler, with Lara at his side. “It’s really great. I’m really, really excited for November 6 when Lara can turn over in the morning and not talk about voter integrity.”
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, 46, has been less prominent on the campaign trail than in previous election cycles. But appearances can be deceptive. Off stage, Don Jr is more influential than ever as a political operative. He has built a loyal following in the Maga universe via his Triggered podcast on Rumble and gained powerful allies such as Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA.
It was Don Jr who advocated for his close friend Vance, a relatively inexperienced senator from Ohio, to become Trump’s vice-presidential nominee. There is speculation in Washington that the pair struck a deal that, should Vance make his own White House bid, he will name Don Jr as his running mate. Vance has previously said: “With the exception of his dad, I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone who has a stronger natural connection to our base.”
Some suspect that Don Jr would be the power behind the throne of a second Trump administration. Speaking on the sidelines of July’s Republican national convention in Milwaukee, he said he wants “veto power” over hiring decisions in a presidential transition. “I don’t want to pick a single person for a position of power; all I want to do is block the guys that would be a disaster,” Don Jr said during an Axios House event. “I want to block the liars, I want to block the guys that are pretending they’re with you.”
Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman and Tea party activist turned Trump critic, said: “What I’ve heard is that Junior is hugely active behind the scenes and hugely influential behind the scenes and that, if Trump is to win, Junior’s going to be basically the power broker. He’s going to be the big player in the administration.”
The ascendency of Don Jr and Eric coincides with the declining influence of Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both of whom worked in the Trump White House. This is seen as evidence that, having conquered the Republican party, populist extremism has prevailed in Trump’s own family.
Walsh, part of a group known as Republicans for Harris campaigning for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, added: “Different family members are the faces this time around and who are they? They’re the more Maga. Junior is clearly Maga. Lara Trump is a Maga idiot and her husband Eric is the same way.
“Jared Kushner and Ivanka were never that way. They’re more polite, kind of high society folks so they were never really meshed with the whole Maga thing. It parallels with who would work for Trump in the second administration. It would all be much more Maga crazies.”
Despite his New York upbringing, Don Jr has styled himself as an outdoorsman who hunts and fishes and connects with middle America. He has also spent a decade honing a brash political persona, delivering fiery speeches, tweeting conspiracy theories and goading liberal critics – “owning the libs” – in ways that meet the moment for his father.
Joshua Kendall, author of First Dads: Parenting and Politics from George Washington to Barack Obama, agrees. He said: “Trump has gotten much more authoritarian so Don Jr is a much better fit for this go around than in 2016, when Trump was still every once in a while trying to make a nod that would be presidential.
“Now he really doesn’t care and that fits very well with Don Jr’s personality which is he’s a real firebrand and, just like his father, he enjoys getting down and dirty with stump speeches and saying harsh things.”
Children have long been crucial players in presidential campaigns; Jimmy Carter’s worked tirelessly to boost him in the New Hampshire primary election in 1976. As the oldest major party nominee in history, Trump, 78, has turned to his grandchildren to soften his image.
Kai Trump, the 17-year-old daughter of Don Jr and his ex-wife Vanessa, told delegates at the Republican convention: “The media makes my grandpa seem like a different person. But I know him for who he is. He is very caring and loving. He truly wants the best for this country. And he will fight every single day to make America great again.”
Yet although Trump’s wife, Melania, also attended the convention, she broke custom by not delivering a speech. The former first lady has maintained a low profile except to promote her own memoir, in which she expressed support for abortion rights – potentially giving her husband a political headache.
It is a stark contrast with past elections, where spouses such as Laura Bush and Michelle Obama have been critical allies, and with Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, who is unfailingly loyal and hugely active on the campaign trail.
Kendall added: “Melania is doing as little as necessary. In that book she came out as pro-abortion so she can’t be counted on to go all Maga. The appeal of Don Jr and Eric is that Trump can count on them. They’re the two family members that are most connected to him and most willing to do his dirty work.
“Melania has also drawn a line in the sand. She wouldn’t speak at the convention, which these days is not common and isn’t going out on the stump. Compare how much Emhoff is doing to how little she is doing.”
Some commentators believe that there is another, pragmatic reason for Trump’s wife and daughter to hang back this time. Rick Wilson, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, a pro-democracy and anti-Trump group, wrote on X: “You know Trump is losing because Jared, Ivanka, and Melania are nowhere to be seen. If he was really ahead, they’d be all over the Campaign like jackals on a two day old gazelle corpse.”
Melania Trump says she forced Donald to drop hardline immigration policy
Melania Trump says she forced Donald to drop hardline immigration policy
Ex-first lady says she told Trump to stop separating children from parents and addresses jacket controversy in book
It is not the only spousal disagreement revealed in the memoir, Melania, which will be published in the US next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.
Melania Trump also delivers a passionate defence of abortion rights significantly weakened by a supreme court to which her husband appointed three hardline justices and under further attack as he runs for the White House again.
Like abortion and reproductive rights, immigration is a hot-button issue in the campaign that will culminate on 5 November when Americans choose Trump or Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, as president for the next four years.
“Occasional political disagreements between me and my husband were a part of our relationship,” Melania Trump writes, “but I believed in addressing them privately rather than publicly challenging him. I found our discussions more productive when we could have a quiet dialogue at home, out of the public eye.”
She writes of her immigration concerns: “Given my past experiences with unfair media narratives, I always approached the news with some skepticism. Before discussing the border crisis with him, I thoroughly educated myself on the situation.”
Reports of children “being held in overcrowded detention centers and in absolute squalor … raised serious questions about their health and well-being. The lack of a clear plan for reuniting families and the absence of a definitive policy on these separations only added to the public’s outrage. I felt strongly that the situation demanded urgent attention and action.”
Describing approaching a husband “whose hardline stance on immigration was well known”, Trump writes: “I am sympathetic to all who wish to find a better life in this country. As an immigrant myself, I intimately understand the necessary if arduous process of legally becoming an American.”
Born in Slovenia, Trump became a US citizen in July 2006, eight years after meeting Donald Trump and shortly after giving birth to their son, Barron. That same month, Donald Trump had the sexual encounter with the adult film star Stormy Daniels from which arose his 34 felony convictions regarding hush-money payments.
Melania does not address that scandal in her book. Regarding child separations, she continues: “While I support strong borders, what was going on at the border was simply unacceptable. I immediately addressed my deep concerns with Donald regarding the family separations, emphasizing the trauma it was causing these families. As a mother myself, I stressed: ‘The government should not be taking children away from their parents.’ I communicated with great clarity … ‘This has to stop.’
“Donald assured me that he would investigate the issue, and on 20 June, he announced the end of the family separation policy.”
The first lady’s intervention was reported at the time. Also widely reported was an incident that occurred when she visited the southern border herself.
A first visit made her think “the root cause” of family separations “was not the government but rather the dangerous influence of criminal cartels in their home countries”.
Melania Trump describes in her new memoir how she made her husband, then president Donald Trump, drop a signature hardline immigration policy under which migrant children were separated from their parents, stoking domestic and international uproar.
“This has to stop,” the former first lady says she told her husband, “emphasizing the trauma it was causing these families” and seeing him swiftly comply, ending the policy on 20 June 2018.
