Ex-best friend of Melania turns on her in savage attack
MELANIA TRUMP’s former best friend and close political adviser last night launched a scathing attack on the First Lady, branding her ‘Machiavellian’ and complicit for apparently supporting her husband’s twisted view of the world.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, 51, who worked as Melania’s senior aide until 2018, said: ‘I’m disheartened and ashamed to have worked with Melania. She wasted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference. Melania is simply an extension of her husband, just as hypocritical,
‘She has left no legacy to be proud of as First Lady’
speaking out of both sides of her mouth when it suits her best.’
Writing an opinion piece for US news website The Daily Beast, Ms Wolkoff added she felt ‘ sickened’ by Melania’s silence after the riot at the Capitol. ‘I wish I could say I was shocked by President Trump’s actions but sadly I can not, or say I don’t comprehend Melania’s silence and inactions, but pathetically, they are both expected.’
In her article, Ms Wolkoff said she chose to speak out against her former friend because she believes Melania compares unfavourably to previous first ladies including President Barack Obama’s wife Michelle, whom, she claims, did more for charity.
She said: ‘Melania held one of the most honorary positions in the world, one that so many brave Americans have fought and died for. Michelle Obama, and so many first ladies before her, accomplished so many things. Michelle was beautiful, brilliant and wise on the inside and out, and in spite of being criticised constantly, actually enacted programs to help children and military families instead of just talking about it.
‘Since Melania wasn’t going to be “given credit by the media” and had little support, she resigned herself to just go through the motions. She left behind no legacy or profile to be proud of as First Lady of the United States.’
Ms Wolkoff, whom Mrs Trump has branded ‘an idle gossip who hardly knew me’, added: ‘She was there as an extension of Donald, used to soften his image. In her free time she took up “albuming” and made scrapbooks filled with photographs of herself.
‘ Melania represents what is wrong in America. She got a pass in life because in America, white, beautiful women who are silent always have gotten a pass. Melania has made beautifully designed parties, events, rooms, and comes across t o children as “sweet and caring.”
‘All these ideas go back to the 50s where women were silent and pretty, racism was rampant, immigrants did the dirty work, and men made fortunes in dirty ways. Many wives of malignant American men have done the same.
‘At their core they are Machiavellian. Win at all costs. And make it look pretty. Melania knows exactly what is going on.’ Ms Wolkoff released a book l ast year about her decades-long friendship with the First Lady which the White House dismissed as ‘full of mistruths and paranoia’.
She said: ‘Many still believe that Melania is powerless, but don’t be fooled… Melania knows and supports Donald and his viewpoints… The truth is she’s actually encouraging him to go for it. Be aggressive. She’s his biggest cheerleader.
‘The fleecing of America will be the legacy the Trump family name will be synonymous with.
‘Their time in the White House will always be aligned and maligned with scandal and they will always be remembered as the most careless President, First Lady and First Family our country has ever known.’
Until leaving the White House Ms Wolkoff, a New York socialite and former Vogue public relations chief, was full of praise for Mrs Trump telling one interviewer in 2016: ‘ Don’t underestimate her because she is quiet and reserved.’
She fell out with the Trumps after organising the 2017 inauguration, allegedly paying her own company millions for planning the event. Ms Wolkoff denied any wrongdoing but insiders claimed Mrs Trump was ‘furious’ by the claims and immediately ‘disassociated’ herself from her former friend.
The White House did not respond to a call for comment last night.