Melania Trump blasts ex-aide for ‘spitefully edited’ recording of her

Former US First Lady Melania Trump has ripped into her ex-friend, accusing her of “maliciously” recording her in secret.

Melania Trump has again fired back at a former friend and White House aide, accusing her of having “spitefully edited” a surreptitious recording to make it seem like she didn’t care about Christmas.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Ms Trump said, “While I was serving as First Lady of our country, Stephanie Wolkoff secretly recorded several of our conversations”.

“Wolkoff then spitefully edited and released our conversation to create the perception that Christmas is not significant to me.”

Ms Trump said Ms Wolkoff “deleted” a part of their summer 2018 conversation in which “I expressed hope to reunite families split across at the southern border”, adding that it “exposes her malicious intent”, the New York Post reports.

Former US First Lady Melania Trump has slammed her ex-friend Stephanie Wolkoff. picture: Nicholas Kamm/AFP

Ms Trump — whose statement was first obtained on Tuesday by Breitbart News — also said she was speaking out because she wanted to “personally set the record straight because the mainstream media has failed to provide context for these misleading exchanges”.

“Christmas is an important time for me, my family, and the American people, and my devotion to the holiday is personal and profoundly serious,” she said.

The controversy stems from a recording Ms Wolkoff gave CNN in connection with her appearance on the Anderson Cooper 360 show in October 2020 to promote her memoir, Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady.

The recording captured Ms Trump saying, “I put — I’m working like a ass — my ass off at Christmas stuff that, you know, who gives a f – k about Christmas stuff and decoration? But I need to do it, right?”

Ms Trump accused her former friend Stephanie Wolkoff of “malicious intent”. Picture: Kena Betancur/AFP

Last week, Fox News exclusively reported that Ms Trump would be selling limited-edition Christmas ornaments and related non-fungible tokens, with a portion of the proceeds earmarked to fund scholarships for kids in foster care.

In a series of tweets, Ms Wolkoff called Ms Trump’s statement “mean fiction” and accused her of “capitalising on my name to take advantage of the American people!”

“She has nothing better to do than to impugn my integrity and lie again in order to sell some ornaments,” Ms Wolkoff wrote.

“SHAME ON YOU @MELANIATRUMP. P.S. I don’t lie!!!”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and has been reproduced with permission