After the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home earlier this month, former President Donald Trump lashed out on social media, saying that the agents looked through his wife’s clothes and personal items.
“Just learned that agents went through the First Lady’s closets and rummaged through her clothing and personal items. Surprisingly, left area in a relative mess. Wow!” Trump made a post on Truth Social.
Five people who talked to CNN about Melania Trump’s recent actions on the condition of anonymity to protect personal and professional ties said that he was a lot more angry than she was. They used an exclamation point to emphasize this.
Someone who knew what the former first lady said said, “She cared, but not as much as he did.”
Another person who was there at the time of the search said, “It made her feel bad. She was worried about her privacy being invaded, not about the question that led to the search or what it meant or could mean legally for her husband in the future.”
The fact that federal agents were in her bathroom, closets, and bedroom almost felt like an invasion of her privacy. But the former first lady hasn’t been upset enough to talk about the search or the results in public. Instead, since she left Washington, she has mostly used her Twitter account to talk about NFTs, which are obviously her biggest passion.
The second person said, “She keeps things to herself, and she protects her child and her home.”
A source who knows how the order was carried out said that the warrant was clear about the rooms and spaces the officers could look in and that it covered any place the former president often goes. Three people who know about the situation say that the Trumps have separate bedrooms in their 3,500 square foot Mar-a-Lago home. Melania Trump’s bedroom and closets, on the other hand, are just down a short hallway from where the former President slept and where he worked from home.
People who know her said that she was and still is unusually quiet, even though she was angry and annoyed that strangers looked through her carefully chosen and expensive clothes, shoes, and bags.
Someone who knows Trump’s quiet way of talking for a long time would ask, “Why would she say anything?” This person goes on to say, “She thinks that if she stays quiet, everything will just go away.” Trump went to a hair salon in Manhattan during one of the few times he has been in the news recently.
The coldness comes from the fact that she is sure she won’t have any of Donald Trump’s things in her closet or bedroom, no matter how she got them.
One of them said, “She would never let him leave his things in her room, and he would never ask.”
Another person who has known the Trumps for a long time said that Melania Trump “has always seen what Donald does as separate from her.” “He makes decisions about his business that are not hers to make,”
The former first lady still pays attention to NFTs.
Donald Trump has been busy with the business of being a former U.S. president who is still in the news. Melania Trump’s life after leaving the White House has been less in the public eye than her husband’s. This is because Donald Trump has been very busy over the last 18 months, whether as the Republican kingmaker or defending himself from investigations.
Since the beginning of the year, Trump has paid a lot of attention to the company USA Memorabilia, even though the owner is not well-known. Trump uses her personal Twitter account, which has 2 million followers, and her “official” office account, which has 124,000 followers, to promote NFTs made and sold by USA Memorabilia.
Since the middle of February, nearly half of the 50 or so tweets that Trump has sent out have been reposts from USA Memorabilia’s Twitter account, which has less than 500 followers, or her own tweets promoting the NFTs on the website.
A former Trump aide says it’s “strange” that the former first lady supports a business that makes money. To be so open about making money off of things that have American themes.
Two people who know about her journey into NFTs say that Trump has recently been coached by Marc Beckman, a longtime friend and the husband of fashion designer Alice Roi. Roi made a few outfits for Trump when she was first lady. Beckman ran a marketing and branding company for a long time, but he has recently turned his attention to cryptocurrencies and how to make money from the growing market for tech-based collectibles. Beckman put out the Comprehensive Guide to NFTs, Digital Art, and Blockchain Technology in 2021.
CNN tried many times but couldn’t reach Beckman.
Even though there isn’t a clear link between USA Memorabilia and the former first lady, she is on most of the products they sell and one of only two Twitter accounts they follow. CNN has tried many times to get in touch with people at USA Memorabilia, but hasn’t heard back.
The National Parks Collection, the Valor Collection, which is about the different branches of the US military, and the POTUS Trump Collection, which has NFTs of important events in Trump’s political career, are all government-related collections that can be found on the company’s website.
One of the $50 NFTs in the second collection shows the former first couple with Mt. Rushmore and an electronically waving American flag in the background. Another, called “45 First Lady NFT,” shows Melania Trump and Donald Trump in tuxedos in an official photo from their time in the White House that will be used as their 2020 holiday card.
Even though the public doesn’t know how much money USA Memorabilia NFTs makes and CNN was unable to get this information from the company, the former first lady keeps advertising the sales on social media.
“It’s pretty rare for a former first lady to stop using her power and position after she leaves office. The Residence and First Ladies: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies “But I’ve realized that trying to figure out what Melania is doing is a losing game,” says CNN contributor and author Kate Andersen Brower.
We still don’t know how much of the money spent on NFT goes to charity.
The charity aspect that the former first lady promoted in December of last year when she first announced her business venture into blockchain sales with a $150 digital image of her eyes is also not mentioned in Trump’s tweets promoting USA Memorabilia, the most recent of which was on Monday.
Trump said that the money from the sales would help him keep his “promise to children through my Be Best project.” He said that the money would be used to teach computer technology to kids who had aged out of the foster care system. CNN asked for more information many times over many months, but neither a breakdown of how much money was made nor confirmation of which charities would get the money were made public.
In a May interview with Fox, Trump said that she would give out scholarships as part of a project she called “Fostering the Future.” So far, only one grant has been given out, and details about it have not been made public.
“Just like when she was in office, there are no rules about how much or how little a former first lady should do. Every woman has dealt with it in her own way “Brower talked about Trump’s unusual way of doing business.
When a first lady’s husband dies, she only gets a small pension of $20,000 per year, and the government doesn’t help her set up major offices after she leaves the White House. Some of the people CNN talked to for this story said that Trump might be trying to start her own business separate from her husband’s, which is in trouble with the law right now.
The person who has known Trump for a long time adds, “I would imagine as the wife and mother of his child, she must be worried (about the future).” At the very least, she might be worried about how her own life will change.
It’s hard to understand why Trump is backing a little-known digital memorabilia company when, like her predecessors, she could be launching programs that have a global impact since she has one of the biggest public platforms in the world. People who know Trump and who have talked to CNN about her recent actions were all confused by this.
Brower said, ” To sum it up, I think it’s a wasted opportunity for a former first lady not to stay relevant.”
