Melania Trump’s rug photoshoot ‘mattered more than riot’

Melania Trump refused to issue a statement to defuse rioting at the Capitol as she was on a photoshoot for a rug, her former chief of staff says.

Melania Trump listens as Donald Trump addresses guests at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on January 20, 2021. Picture: AFP.

Melania Trump refused to issue a statement to defuse rioting at the US Capitol as she was busy with a photoshoot for a rug she chose for the White House, according to her chief of staff at the time.

Trump, 51, was likened to Marie Antoinette by Stephanie Grisham, her former senior aide. She writes in a new book that the former first lady believed her husband’s claims that last year’s election was stolen from him.

Grisham, 45, was one of the longest-serving members of the inner circle, having joined Donald Trump’s campaign in August 2015, seven months before he won the Republican nomination. Having failed to persuade the first lady to help calm the attack on the Capitol on January 6, Grisham resigned that day.

According to excerpts acquired by Politico, Grisham writes in her memoir, I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in The Trump White House, that Melania Trump was like “the doomed French queen. Dismissive. Defeated. Detached.”

Grisham wrote that at 1.25pm on January 6, as it became clear that an attack was under way in Washington, she emailed the first lady, saying: “Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness and violence?” Trump replied a minute later with a one-word answer: “No.”

Grisham writes that the first lady was at the White House preparing for a photoshoot of a rug she had selected. Grisham also writes in the book, due to be published on October 5, that she asked Trump a couple of times after the election if she should contact Jill Biden to set up the traditional tea between outgoing and incoming first ladies. Trump told her that they should “see what the West Wing does”, a reference to how her husband was handling the transition.

Five days after the Capitol attack Trump issued a statement saying that she was “disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week”.

The former first lady told Politico: “The intent behind this book is obvious. It is an attempt to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behaviour … Through mistruth and betrayal, she seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs Trump.”

The Times