“I could say that I am the most harassed person in the world,” says Melania Trump
The US first lady downplays Donald Trump's alleged infidelities in an interview: "It's not a concern for me"
Barely blinking and keeping her serious face that characterizes her, Melania Trump minimizes her husband's alleged infidelities in a television interview. “It is not a concern and a focus for me,” the first lady tells ABC, according to the first excerpts from the interview. Melania, however, avoids outright denying the alleged affairs of Donald Trump a decade ago, when they were already married, with a porn actress and a former Playboy model. Although she claims to be happy in her marriage: "Yes, we are fine."
Melania Trump is one of the great mysteries of the 20 months of the Republican presidency. Like all of her predecessors, she is the subject of constant scrutiny over what she does and says. She seems to feed it herself, for example when last June she wore a jacket with the caption 'I really don't care. To you?’ During her trip to Texas to meet immigrant families who had been separated by a controversial government directive. Her beginnings as first lady have been convulsive: she did not initially move to the White House, she had to undergo kidney surgery and her first major initiative, against cyberbullying, seems ironic given her husband's constant attacks through Twitter , against the press and his political rivals.
The first lady has hardly granted interviews, although she has made an effort to mark her own profile when she has considered it convenient. Her ABC interview took place last week in Africa, which was her first solo trip. Even before Trump's electoral victory in 2016, Melania was already living under a constant focus of speculation about whether she is happy with the president.
“I am a mother and first lady, and I have much more important things to think about and do. I know that people and the media like to speculate about our marriage, ”she responds in the interview to a question about whether the accusations of infidelity have damaged her relationship with the president.
The president's wife, with whom he has a son (Barron, 12 years old), had so far avoided directly assessing the case of Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who claims she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006 and 2007. Michael Cohen, the president's faithful lawyer until recently, has admitted to having paid Daniels money, on Trump's order, in order to guarantee his silence in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections. The transaction may amount to an electoral crime and is the subject of a judicial investigation. Trump has denied the affair with the actress.
Rudy Giuliani, who is now the president's main lawyer, assured last June, in relation to the accusation of Stormy Daniels, that the first lady "believes her husband and knows that this is false." However, in the ABC interview, Melania Trump avoids seconding those statements when she is asked if they are rigorous. “I have never spoken to Mr. Giuliani,” she says. And when she is asked why the lawyer would make that statement, she replies: “I don't know. You have to ask him."
The first lady also acknowledges that Trump's accusations of infidelity have hurt her. "Yes, media speculation," she replies after several seconds of silence pondering her response. "It's not always comfortable, of course, but I know what's right and what's wrong, and what's true and not true," she adds. And at another point she emphasizes: "I am very strong and I know what my priorities are."
Unreliable collaborators
During the interview, Melania also addresses the workings of the White House. She walks a fine line in that she avoids meddling in the day-to-day running of her husband's presidency, but she drops poignant phrases. She maintains that there are people working for Trump whom she does not trust, although she avoids naming names. She assures that in the past she has told the president and that some of those people are no longer in the White House.
The first lady herself alleges that "you always have to watch your back", in what can be interpreted as a fear of betrayal among Trump's closest collaborators. And she claims to be a victim of constant harassment herself. “I could say that I am the most harassed person in the world,” she emphasizes. "If you really see what people say about me."
Still, she says she is happy with her current life. "I'm enjoying. I really love living in Washington and in the White House,” she says, debunking rumors that she would rather reside in New York like she used to. And she welcomes continuing in the city until January 2025 if Trump wins re-election in 2020: “I think my husband is doing an incredible job for this nation and I want the American people to succeed. I will support whatever he decides."
