A separate bedroom, this is the life of Melania Trump in the White House
The first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, sleeps in a different room than her husband, President Donald Trump, and sometimes feels relegated by the preponderant role that Ivanka occupies, as a result of the president's marriage to his first wife, Ivana, explains CNN journalist Kate Bennett in her book "Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography."
In his work, which goes on sale this Tuesday in the United States, Bennett, who covers the White House and issues related to the first lady, reveals the ins and outs of Melania's life and sheds light on the relationship she has with her husband and with Ivanka.
OWN BEDROOM
Melania Trump lives in her own rooms within the White House, something that makes the presidential couple one of the few who have not shared a bedroom, the CNN journalist details in her work.
The first lady not only does her day to day in rooms other than those that Donald Trump attends, but she also decided to move to a different floor than the one where her husband resides.
The book describes the discomforts related to living in this historic building, and is that, despite the fact that the residence occupies more than 9,000 square meters, the wife of the commander-in-chief cannot walk through the gardens of the complex when she pleases, open a window without Secret Service authorization or regulate the thermostat at will.
A POWERFUL VOICE IN THE WEST WING
Melania Trump has more power than she actually appears in the West Wing of the White House, where the offices of the Executive branch are located.
For example, Bennett notes that the first lady was directly responsible for the firing of Mira Ricardel, Trump's deputy national security adviser, after the two women had their quarrels on the president's wife's trip to Africa in 2018.
In November last year, the White House announced the counselor's departure after the first lady's office openly called for her firing.
According to the media, Ricardel clashed with the first lady's staff over an issue related to Melania's trip to Africa: The Wall Street Journal reported that Melania suspected, among other things, that Ricardel had leaked negative stories about her and his team to the press.
The first lady was also responsible - the book says - that the White House decided to do without in 2017 the head of the Service Angella Reid, who was in charge of supervising the administrative activities of the presidential mansion.
CALM TENSE BETWEEN MELANIA AND IVANKA
The relationship between Donald Trump's wife and Ivanka Trump is not as friendly as before the family's landing at the White House, sources from the first lady's environment state in “Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography”.
Despite the seemingly cordial relationship the two women share, Ivanka's unprecedented and unofficial figure of "first child" annoys Melania, argues Bennett, as she sometimes feels relegated to the background and has caused some drama in the family bosom.
That tension was exemplified when Melania wore a Zara trench coat with the controversial message "I really don't care, do u?" (I don't really care, (and) you?) during a visit to the Mexican border in June 2018 to detention centers for immigrant minors.
In Bennett's opinion, it was a message addressed to Ivanka: "I believe, and still do, that the raincoat was a dart (aimed) at Ivanka and her almost constant attempts to link herself to positive points of the Administration," writes the journalist.
THE DOG THAT WASN'T
A curious and apparently irrelevant anecdote that the author reveals, and that demonstrates the influence that the first lady has on the president of the United States, is the fact that, at Melania's request, the Trumps were about to buy a dog to the presidential residence despite the head of state's well-known dislike of pets and his phobia of germs in general.
Bennett says that this wish was so close to materializing that Melania even began to find out details about breeds and the care that a dog requires.
Ultimately, the family decided that the man known as the man's best friend had no place in their hearts, or at least in his house.
