Melania Trump has revealed she made her husband drop an immigration policy which separated migrant children from their parents.
The former first lady describes how Donald Trump ended his controversial policy in 2018 after she told the then-president: “This has to stop.”
In her upcoming memoir, she also reveals how she aired her political concerns with Trump behind closed doors rather than in public.
“Occasional political disagreements between me and my husband were a part of our relationship,” she writes, adding: “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.”
According to The Guardian, which obtained a copy of the book ahead of next week’s release, Mrs Trump said that she didn’t like relying on news reports, adding: “Before discussing the border crisis with him, I thoroughly educated myself on the situation.”
She says reports of children “being held in overcrowded detention centers and in absolute squalor” had made her question their safety and wellbeing.Ms Trump, 54, said that there was a “lack of a clear plan” for getting families back together and no definitive policy, which was increasing public outrage. “I felt strongly that the situation demanded urgent attention and action,” she wrote.
‘Simply unacceptable’
The former model says she approached her husband about his “well-known” hardline stance.
Describing her own experience as a Slovenian immigrant, she 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.”
Mrs Trump moved to pursue her modelling career in 1996 and became a US citizen 10 years later. She gave birth to her and Trump’s son, Barron, in 2005.
She added that although she supportsstrong borders, the situation there was“simply unacceptable”.
“I immediately addressed my deep concerns with Donald regarding the family separations, emphasising the trauma it was causing these families.
“As a mother myself, I stressed: ‘The government should not be taking children away from their parents’,” she wrote.
Ms Trump said that her husband told her he would investigate the policy andby June20, he had announced its end.
Mrs Trump’s private lobbying was reported at the time. She put out a statement through her spokeswoman saying she “hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform.”
The mother-of-one also describes in her book how her visit to the southern border made her think “the root cause” of family separations was not the government, but criminals and cartels in their home countries.
During her second visit, she caused an uproar when she wore her now famous jacket which read: “I really don’t care, do U?”.
Addressing the furore, Mrs Trump says the “discreet yet impactful” message was to protest against anonymous media briefing.
“I was determined … not to let the media’s false narratives affect my mission to help the children and families at the border,” she writes. “In fact, I decided to let them know that their criticism would never stop me from doing what I feel is right. To make the point, I wore a particular jacket as I boarded the plane, a jacket that quickly became famous.
“As the door on the plane closed, my press secretary’s inbox was flooded with urgent emails from top-tier media outlets regarding the jacket … ‘It’s a message for the media’, I said, ‘to let them know I was unconcerned with their opinions of me’ [but] she told me I couldn’t say that. ‘Why not? It is the truth’. I disagreed with her insistence that I couldn’t say that. Ignoring my comments, she told a CNN reporter she was friendly with that it was simply a jacket, a fashion choice with no underlying message.”
Mrs Trump writes that the response had overshadowedthe importance of her border messageand was “just another example of the media’s irresponsible behavior”.
The press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, claimed in her book she and Mrs Trump were told off by the then-president following jacket-gate.
Ms Grisham said Trump came up with the idea, shouting: “You just tell them you were talking to the f---ing press.”
Mrs Trump is currently promoting her book, entitled Melania, which is due to be published on October 8.
CNN reported that the former first lady’s publisher demanded $250,000 for an interview with the author ahead of its release.
According to the news outlet, Skyhorse Publishing emailed over a document labeled “Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Agreement” which stipulated that “CNN shall pay a licensing fee of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000)”.
CNN did not sign the agreement, and the publisher later said it had sent the payment demand by mistake.
“Neither Melania nor anyone from her team knew anything about the NDA and the document that was sent reflected an internal miscommunication,” Tony Lyons, the president and publisher of Skyhorse, told CNN in a statement.
“Had CNN signed an NDA, in the normal course of business, we would have approached Melania’s team to discuss [specifics of the interview].”