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.
Secrets of why Melania Trump 2.0 is going to do things differently this time… with a vow that may make her more unpredictable than her husband
She was mesmerising and unknowable beneath the brim of that severe Eric Javits boater, and equally enigmatic in her ice-cool take on My Fair Lady at the inaugural White House ball.
When her husband, Donald Trump, leaned in close as they danced Melania, 54, seemed to give the new President barely even a flicker of acknowledgement.
But make no mistake. Behind that glacial exterior, there has been a seismic change in how Melania intends to handle her second stint in the White House.
As Kate Andersen Brower, author and First Lady historian, says: ‘It’s going to be Melania 2.0 in the same way it’s Trump 2.0.
‘She’s going to be much more confident in the White House and in her role.’
And so, as Trump, 78, begins his second term with a bang, a tougher and more focused Melania is commencing what looks to be an extraordinary turn as FLOTUS.
Not least because she’s moving into the White House with a film crew in tow, something which would have been unthinkable for any of her predecessors.
Sphinx-like Melania, however, is set to reveal all with a documentary about her life.
As Trump, 78, begins his second term with a bang, a tougher and more focused Melania is commencing what looks to be an extraordinary turn as the First Lady
Behind that glacial exterior, there has been a seismic change in how Melania Trump intends to handle her second stint in the White House
US First Lady Melania Trump listens as President Donald Trump speaks to the press before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2025
The filming of interviews and general footage began last year in November during the closing stages of the campaign, when she was still at the Trump’s Florida base, Mar-a-Lago.
The film will be released later this year on Amazon Prime, whose boss Jeff Bezos was among the tech titans bending the knee to Trump this week. The streamer has stumped up an astonishing $40million for the rights to the movie.
Much of that sum is, reportedly, finding its way into Melania’s pockets, as she has a ‘producer’ credit. (Little wonder, perhaps, that Democratic political strategist James Carville, no doubt with a partisan axe to grind, referred to the purchase this week as ‘payola’ – meaning a corrupt payment in return for promotion.)
Why Slovenian-born Melania would want to kick off her second tenure as First Lady with such an obvious attempt to both burnish her public profile and enrich herself is an interesting question.
It’s even more interesting because the documentary follows hard on the heels of ‘Melania: A Memoir’ which came out in October.
Critics said the book was ‘full of obfuscations’ and didn’t reveal much, but it was a number one New York Times bestseller, and one of the best-selling books of the year on Amazon, which will have earned her plenty of money.
This week she launched her own cryptocurrency. Now she and her husband each have their own.
Given these lucrative solo projects, observers have been wondering if Melania could be contemplating an end to her marriage when they leave the White House? Or does she just enjoy making money?
Ms Brower thinks it’s simply down to the latter and said: ‘You get no pay as First Lady. There’s nothing in the constitution that describes her role.
Jeff Bezos ‘s film and television studio reportedly beat out Disney and Paramount for streaming rights
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive for the Liberty inaugural ball in Washington, DC, on January 20
U.S. President Donald Trump kisses Melania Trump at his inauguration in the U.S. Capitol
‘Michelle Obama gave up her job and wasn’t making money. It’s been seen historically as tacky.
‘In a way, by monetising that position it diminishes it.
‘But Melania has ‘Trumpified’ the role of First Lady. There’s a level of greed we haven’t seen before.
She’s recreating the role. We see it in her fashion choices, her cryptocurrency, her book. She’s more public than she was but she’s going to do it on her terms.’
Ms Brower spoke about how Melania has a vested interest in ‘White House history’ and how she is ‘very much in touch with the White House Historical Association and a huge fan of Jackie Kennedy’.
She added: ‘It’s not as if she doesn’t understand the role, but I believe she’s taken the view that she doesn’t need to make everyone happy.
‘There’s a feeling that if anyone’s going to make money from her name, it’s going to be her…
‘There’s a feeling they [the Trumps] go after people that are making a penny by writing about them [like former aides Stephanie Winston Wolkoff and Stephanie Grisham] because all of that money should be theirs.’
Ms Wolkoff produced a book, Melania and Me in 2020, which was full of quotes directly from Melania as she had secretly recorded their conversations.
She was hit with a civil suit for breaking a non-disclosure agreement, which was eventually dropped in 2021.
As for Ms Grisham, she was Melania’s Chief of Staff but turned on her boss after the Capitol riots in 2021.
She testified that she asked Melania in a text if she could ‘at least tweet that ‘While peaceful protest is the right of every American, there’s no place for lawlessness or violence.’
Melania gave a one-word response, ‘No.’
As that single word indicates, the First Lady is as steely as her husband. But unlike her first time as FLOTUS, when Melania was seen as a chilly presence at her husband’s side at public events, Ms Brower thinks Melania now realises the importance of shows of unity.
‘I think we see them being more affectionate.
‘We’ll see her standing by him because of the trauma of the assassination attempts. That has really rocked her world, as it would for anyone, and it made her affirm her commitment to him.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff (pictured left) was hit with a civil suit for breaking a non-disclosure agreement after producing, ‘Melania and Me’ in 2020
Melania Trump speaks before at a rally in Madison Square Garden, New York City on Sunday, October 27, 2024
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump during the Salute to Our Armed Services Inaugural Ball at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, January 20, 2017
‘First time around we saw her swatting her husband’s hand away. I predict more PDA from the White House, whether people like it or not.’
Indeed, during this term, Melania has already said she’ll be moving fully into the White House having made waves staying away from her husband last time.
Previously, she remained in New York while son Barron, now 18, was in school – quite a statement of her priorities, as even Michelle Obama moved her two young daughters to Washington halfway through their school year when her husband was elected President.
But Melania stood her ground, insisting Barron’s education should not be disrupted, despite the reported costs in flights and security being $125,000 a day. He is now at university.
Her wilfulness continues to burn strongly, however, as Melania told Fox News last week: ‘The first time… I just feel that people didn’t accept me, maybe.
Some people, they see me as just the wife of the president, but I’m standing on my own two feet, independent. I have my own thoughts.’
This single-mindedness was further developed, says Mary Jordan – an associate editor at the Washington Post who wrote a biography of Melania called
The Art of Her Deal – in the embattled final period of her tenure as First Lady.
Previously, Melania remained in New York while son Barron, now 18, was in school
‘People close to Trump’s world tell me that part of it is the bunker mentality, that she, her son and her husband have come under intense criticism,’ says
Ms Jordan. ‘He was impeached, twice, and she was upset about that.
‘There were embarrassing [criminal] trials, especially to her. She feels that this criticism of him really has brought them closer.’
And it’s from her husband that she has learnt the most about how to survive as a Trump, and how to protect her own interests.
As Ms Jordan puts it: ‘She has a ringside seat to how he negotiates and if you read his books, when you have leverage [that’s] when you move in. When he entered politics all of a sudden she had new leverage.
‘She saw her moment and if he wanted her to go to Washington, to do something that she did not sign up for, they needed to renegotiate the prenup.
‘I talked to a lawyer who did one of his prenups – not the Melania one, but for Marla Maples, his second wife – and it was incredible how little she got.
‘Melania – I didn’t get specifics – wanted a more equal share for Barron. I think she’s very smart and a good negotiator.’
There’s no denying, that for all this apparent wiliness, Melania’s first entry to the East Wing – where the office of the First Lady is located – was naive and ill-prepared.
‘In 2017, she was in the midst of a big feud with [her stepdaughter] Ivanka who took some of the [roles of] the First Lady,’ says
Ms Jordan. ‘This time she will be wiser and have better people around her.
‘Hopefully people that won’t let her wear jackets with rude things on the back [referring to the infamous jacket Melania wore to a migrant child detention centre with ‘I don’t care’ emblazoned it].’
Perhaps it’s the memory of this bruising experience that led to Melania enlisting Goldman Sachs bigwig John F.W. Rogers not long after her husband’s re-election to advise her on hiring new staff.
Melania, seen on January 20, 2017 alongside her husband and son Barron, has been involved in several moneymaking ventures as of late
The former first lady is seen with a nanny during her childhood in Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia
The documentary will be directed by Rush Hour’s Brett Ratner, and began filming back in December
Mr Rogers is a real fixture in the city’s society circles, and with insiders like this behind her, it’s clear Melania means business this time around.
Speaking about Melania’s union with Trump, Ms Jordan says: ‘It’s unlike any political marriage I’ve ever seen. All couples are different but the amount of time they spend apart is extraordinary.
I know she deeply admires what he’s done and is appreciative for all he’s done for her. She came from a former Communist country with not much and he knows she makes him look good.’
Her modelling career, apparently, has influenced her approach to politics, says Ms Jordan: ‘She’s a perfectionist – she has to have every detail crossed and in politics there is no perfection.
‘That’s why it’s hard to be out there in the rough and tumble of politics.’
One wonders, then, how she will cope with the exposure of an up-close and personal documentary. The idea, Melania claims, was hers alone.
But why did Melania ask controversial director Brett Ratner to oversee it? Mr Ratner, of the Rush Hour and X Men movies, apparently met Melania via Marc Beckman, the United Agency CEO, who has acted as the First Lady’s representative, overseeing her book deal.
Mr Beckman facilitated a meeting between the pair at Mar-a-Lago, after Melania indicated she liked Mr Ratner’s films.
She was also, seemingly, well aware that Mr Ratner had been accused of tawdry sexual misbehaviour by female stars, which were published by the Los Angeles Times in 2017.
His accusers included actress Natasha Henstridge, who claimed he once forced her to give him oral sex, and X Men’s Olivia Munn, who accused him of masturbating in front of her, when she was an aspiring actress.
‘He walked out,’ she said, ‘with his belly sticking out, no pants on, shrimp cocktail in one hand and he was furiously masturbating in the other.’
Melania asked controversial director Brett Ratner to oversee her new documentary
Melania Trump on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 18, 2024 in Milwaukee
Ms Munn said she let out a ‘startled scream’ and raced out of the trailer. ‘It wasn’t a shock. It wasn’t a surprise,’ Ms Munn recalled. ‘It was just, ‘Ugh, sorry about that.’
Mr Ratner – who has been romantically linked to Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan – denied the claims, which do not appear to have been pursued legally, but was promptly cancelled by Hollywood.
At the time of the allegations, his attorney Martin Singer said Mr Ratner ‘categorically’ disputed the actresses’ accounts.
He said: ‘I have represented Mr Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment.’
His Melania documentary will be his first project since the accusations were made public in 2017.
His reputation, then, to put it mildly, is tainted. One wonders why Melania – having endured her husband’s ‘grab ’em by the p***y’ comments – would invite links with such a man.
Apparently, Hollywood sources say, she liked the fact that he’d been ‘cast aside’ by the industry.
To Ms Jordan, this contrary attitude is entirely in keeping with her overall approach to her role as FLOTUS.
‘If you asked her [what she’s going to do now], she would say I will do whatever I feel like.’
One can only wonder, who will be the more unpredictable Trump in the White House this time round: the President, or his wife?
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.
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