Melania Trump's war with Ivanka and pre-nup lawyer chats detailed in new book
The power behind the Trump throne was not in a happy place during her time as First Lady according to a new book that reveals extreme power struggles.
The book recounts the tug-of-war Trump's wife Melania went through with her step-daughter Ivanka after she initially opted to stay in New York following her husband's ascension to the presidency. She chose to stay in their home in a bid to protect son Barron Trump, 10 at the time from the glare of publicity associated with the highest office in the land and to allow him to finish his school.
But that left a void which Ivanka immediately tried to fill, leading to a power struggle between the two women, fuelling already rife rumours that there was an intense and competitive relationship between the two women in Trump's life. Rogers, a White House reporter for the New York Times, reveals new details about that rivalry, on Melania's time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and what the former first lady may do if she gets four more years.
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Donald Trump has been without the support of wife Melania during this election period (WireImage)
Melania has fought a constant battle agains the influence of her step-children on husband Donald, according to the book (Getty Images)The book, American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden, reported by Mail Online, also examines modern first ladies as two of them – Jill Biden and Melania Trump – wait to see if their husbands' quest for a second term in the White House succeeds.
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The book reveals that Melania Trump spent her four years in the White House in that epic internal battle with her step-daughter Ivanka, met repeatedly with her lawyers about her pre and post-nups, and used her clothing – including that jacket – to speak for her when she was largely denied any other voice.
Roghers notes in the book that the Slovenian-born first lady spent her time in the role 'bucking expectations. She was rarely seen in public, gave few interviews and even her signature initiative 'Be Best' left people wondering exactly what it meant (and hoped to accomplish). And, as Donald Trump runs for a second term, she has refused to campaign with him, leading to speculation she could be a first lady from Palm Beach if he wins the 2024 election.
The book examines the evolution of the unpaid role from when Hillary Clinton held it to the East Wing run by Jill Biden, from how each woman shaped the position and how it is tied to the holder's husband. Melania's decision to live 230 miles from the presidential mansion was unprecedented but it fit in with her number one priority – protecting her son.
However, it also left an opening for ambitious Ivanka, with the first daughter eyeing the office space of the East Wing, looking to revamp the area so it could be 'geared to serving the entire First Family, not just the First Lady,' Rogers said. However, her step-mother put down her foot and ended that bid and, a month later, Ivanka announced she would be an unpaid adviser in her father's West Wing.
But that was just the first shot in the four-year 'internal power struggle' that Melania Trump would wage with 'The Princess.' It has been revealed that the pair had little overlap in the White House complex, were rarely seen together and almost never photographed together and they never hosted a joint initiative or event. But it wasn't just Ivanka that Melania had concerns about.
The then-first lady 'did not think that it was appropriate for Trump's children to be enmeshed in White House operations,' Rogers revealed. And the war with her step-children was one she lost. Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner both served as advisers in the West Wing. Don Jr and Eric advised the Trump campaign and were main surrogates for their father on the campaign trail.
But Melania, an immigrant, made her feelings known with that now infamous 'I really don't care, do you?' jacket. The then-first lady famously wore the jacket in June 2018 as she boarded her Air Force flight to visit the Upbring New Hope Children's Shelter in McAllen, Texas, where migrant children who had been separated from their parents as they crossed the border were being held.
The First Lady had pushed Donald Trump to issue an executive order that stopped his administration's policy of separating families at the border. Stephanie Grisham, a top aide to the first lady, told Rogers that, when they returned to the White House from the trip, Trump pulled her and Melania into the Oval Office, where he "yelled at them, and then decided that the official explanation for the jacket would be that Melania was speaking directly to the media".
While there was an official reason given for the wearing of the jacket, some unnamed Trump administration officials said the jacket was a message to "the Trumps – specifically, the president's eldest daughter, Ivanka". Melania and Ivanka, during their White House years, "were locked in a quiet competition for press coverage". Melania also wanted to convey her displeasure with Trump's children involving themselves in White House operations.
It has also been revealed that Melania was holding "meetings with teams of lawyers to examine her assets and attend to matters associated with her pre and postnuptial agreements with her husband", according to the book. Melania had re-negotiated her prenup with Donald after he won the presidency, to ensure her son Barron would be treated the same as the president's three eldest children from his marriage to Ivana Trump.
'I don't want children staying up late at weekends - I really need adult time'
And Melania Trump has been noticeable by her absence in this presidential election year and in Trump's numerous court troubles, where she has nor been present. Rogers, based on her interviews for her books, speculates how Melania Trump may manage another four more years in the White House: "Perhaps she would be a First Lady based in Palm Beach".
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