“I understand that agents have gone into the First Lady’s closet and are rummaging through her clothes and personal belongings. Amazingly, the left is in a relative mess. Wow!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“She was worried, but not as much as he thought,” said a person familiar with the former first lady’s reaction.
The feds came a little closer to her independent orbit in her bedroom, closets, and bathroom. But the former first lady was reluctant to speak publicly about the search or what was found. Instead, her public statements — via her Twitter account — have focused on her emerging interest since leaving Washington: NFTs.
CNN reached out to Trump several times for comment on this story and did not receive a response.
“She is private and takes care of her child and her home,” the second person added.
The warrant was specific about the rooms and locations the agents could search, and included anywhere the former president moved, said a person familiar with the warrant enforcement detail. While the Trumps have separate bedrooms at their 3,500-square-foot Mar-a-Lago home, three people familiar with the layout told CNN, Melania Trump’s bedroom and closets are just down the hall from the former president’s bedroom and home office.
Although it was pointed out and frowned upon by strangers to step out in her elaborate and expensive collection of clothes and shoes and bags, acquaintances say she was — and remains — characteristically quiet.
“Why does she say something?” says a person familiar with Trump’s long-term taciturn communications strategy. This person says, “If she is silent, her thoughts will be nullified.”
A few of Trump’s recent public appearances include a visit to a Manhattan hair salon.
The chill stems from the basic certainty that Donald Trump’s possessions are not in her bedroom or closet.
“She never lets him put his stuff in her room and he never asks,” one of the men said.
“(Melania Trump) always tries to separate what Donald does from her,” said another person who has known Trump for several years. “The decisions he makes about the business are his decisions, not hers.”
The former first lady will keep her focus on NFTs
Remaining in the headlines is the business of being the former President of the United States, Donald Trump. As much as the past year and a half has focused on — as a Republican kingmaker or blocking investigations — Melania Trump’s life after the White House has been less publicized.
Half of Trump’s 50 or so tweets since mid-February were posted by the USA Memorabilia Twitter account, which has fewer than 500 followers, or its own tweets that pinned NFTs on the website.
“It’s weird,” said the former first lady’s for-profit business promotion, a former Trump adviser. “To be very clear about making money from US-sourced collections.”
Two people familiar with Trump’s campaign on NFTs said she was tipped off late by Mark Beckman, a longtime friend and husband of fashion designer Alice Roy, who designed some clothes for Trump while she was first lady. Beckman has been running a marketing and branding agency for many years, but recently ventured into the world of cryptocurrencies and how to capitalize on the new age of tech-based collections. Beckman In 2021, he released a book titled “The Complete Guide to NFTs, Digital Art, and Blockchain Technology.”
Multiple attempts to reach Beckman by CNN were unsuccessful.
The collections released on the company’s website are from the government side, such as the National Parks Collection, the Valor Collection — focused on branches of the US Armed Forces — and the POTUS Trump Collection, NFTs from various periods in Trump’s presidential history. .
One NFT in the latter set — priced at $50 each — features the former’s first pair of digitally waving American flags with Rushmore in the background. Another, “45 First Lady NFT,” an official photo of Melania Trump and Donald Trump in tuxedos while in the White House, will be used as their 2020 holiday card.
Although USA Memorabilia’s NFTs profits have not been made public — and CNN’s attempts to get information from the company were unsuccessful — the former first lady has continued to promote the sale on social media.
“It’s very unusual for a former first lady not to use her continued power and dignity after she leaves office. But I’ve learned that trying to understand what Melania is doing is a losing game,” says Kate Anderson Brower. CNN contributor and author of “The Residence” and “First Ladies: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies.”
The charitable component of NFT sales is still unclear.
Also not mentioned in Trump’s tweets are promoting USA memorabilia, the latest of which happened Monday as part of a charity drive in which the former first lady announced her entrepreneurial endeavors in December of last year with the first blockchain sale of a $150 digital image. From her eyes.
Trump said the sale will promote “my best commitment to children” and that the proceeds will provide computer science skills to children aging out of the foster care system. However, confirmation of the portion of the revenue or the organizations receiving the funds has not been disclosed, despite repeated requests by CNN for months.
In an interview with Fox in May, Trump said she would offer scholarships through what she called “Empowering the Future,” but so far only one scholarship has been officially awarded, the details of which have not been made public.
“Just like in the office, there’s no playbook on how much (the former first lady) should do or how little (the former first lady) should do. Every woman is approached differently,” Brower said of Trump’s unusual business model.
After leaving the White House, first ladies don’t get government money to set up large offices, and after their husbands die, they receive a small pension of $20,000 a year. Several people CNN spoke to for this story speculated that Trump is trying to set up a separate business from his wife, who is currently embroiled in several legal tangles.
“As a wife and mother to his son, I think she should be worried[about the future],” said a person who has known Trump for many years.
With one of the largest public platforms in the world, it is challenging to understand why Trump supports a little-known business of digital notes, when – perhaps like his immediate predecessors – he can establish initiatives with global influence. To that end, everyone who knows Trump and discussed her recent activities with CNN was amused.
“To conclude, I think it’s a wasted opportunity for the former first lady not to stay on the case,” he said.
