Melania Trump is more like husband Donald than we think

A new book claims FLOTUS is just as adept at deal-making as her husband. The proof? A pre-nup power move.

US President Donald Trump kisses his wife, first lady Melania Trump, after a campaign rally. Picture: AP

Melania Trump renegotiated her prenuptial agreement with Donald Trump when he was elected president, according to a new book that claims the first lady is much more like her husband than widely believed.

Mrs Trump, 50, wanted to secure better terms for the future of their son, Barron, and threatened delaying their move from New York as leverage to renegotiate the “not incredibly generous” agreement, the book claims.

The seemingly frosty relationship between Mr Trump, 73, and his Slovenian-born third wife has been an enduring subject of fascination amid revelations that they have separate bedrooms in the White House and rumours that Mrs Trump was upset that her husband unexpectedly won the 2016 election.

The Trumps dance at a 2017 salute to armed services ball. Picture: AP

According to The Art of Her Deal, an unauthorised biography by Mary Jordan, a Washington Post reporter who interviewed Mrs Trump in 2016, she is much more aligned with her husband’s presidential ambitions than thought.

Mrs Trump had told people she wanted her husband to win re-election, Jordan wrote, pointing to her increased public activity, from placing the Medal of Freedom around the neck of the talk radio host Rush Limbaugh to clapping when Mr Trump called the FBI “scum” after being cleared of impeachment charges in February.

Claims during the 2016 campaign of Mr Trump’s alleged marital infidelities contributed to her push to redraw a prenuptial agreement drawn up before their marriage in 2005, the book claims.

She made sure that Barron, 14, had dual US-Slovenian citizenship, positioning him to work in Europe for the Trump Organisation if he wanted to one day, Jordan added. “She wanted proof in writing that when it came to financial opportunities and inheritance, Barron would be treated as more of an equal to Trump’s oldest three children.”

Mrs Trump’s leverage about moving to the White House was increased by friends of the president, who wanted her in Washington to help to temper his moods. They have become closer during his presidency and she will often be the first person he calls on the phone after a rally.

“She is … much more like him than it appears,” Jordan wrote, and “would seize an opportunity and put great effort into it. Then she would move on and never look back.”

Roger Stone, Mr Trump’s campaign adviser who is due to go to prison for 40 months for witness tampering and lying to investigators, told Jordan that Mrs Trump always encouraged her husband to run for president. “She’s the one who ultimately said: ‘You know, Donald, stop talking about running for president and do it … And if you run, you’re going to win’.”

Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s chief of staff, did not address the book’s claims but said: “Yet another book about Mrs Trump with false information and sources. This book belongs in the fiction genre.”

The Times