Melania Trump made sure to take a jab at her former advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff during her campaign speech on Tuesday, accusing the media of focusing on stories of 'idle gossip' and 'baseless claims' from angry ex-employees who are mere distractions.
And in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Wolkoff blasted her former friend for being 'hypocritical' and 'bullying' her then launching into a speech about her Be Best initiative, which focuses on children and is all about kindness and anti-bullying.
Wolkoff quipped: 'The fact that she says she cares about children, what has she done for children? Nothing.'
The author of The No. 1 New York Times Bestseller Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady said the first lady finally showed her true colors while speaking on the campaign trail.
She said: 'Melania [had] the opportunity to actually say something of value and importance to the American people, and instead she's bullying me.
'Her Be Best initiative is all about kindness and anti-bullying, yet she continues to attack me. For her to even utter the words of kindness and respect is hypocritical.'
Wolkoff said while she's surprised Melania mentioned her during her speech, she's not surprised that she 'plays with the truth', citing her fallout from the Trump administration.
Melania Trump made sure to take a jab at her former advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff during her campaign speech on Tuesday, accusing the media of focusing on stories of 'idle gossip' and 'baseless claims' from angry ex-employees who are mere distractions
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Wolkoff blasted her former friend for being 'hypocritical' and 'bullying' her then launching into a speech about her Be Best initiative, which focuses on children and is all about kindness and anti-bullying
Looking back at her time in the White House, Wolkoff said she was honored when her close friend asked her to be her top advisor. Yet later Melania claimed she wasn't close with Wolkoff. Wolkoff disputes this and shared an image of a beaming Melania hugging her, explaining Melania was thanking her for producing Trump's inauguration and the Candlelight Dinner in January 2017
Wolkoff, a close friend of Melania's for some 15 years, was responsible for organizing Trump's inauguration party, which raised a record $107 million dollars prompting an investigation into where the money actually went.
It was then revealed that Wolkoff's firm had received $26 million for its services, much of which was distributed to others vendors.
Wolkoff was paid a fee of $482,000. She says she was then made the scapegoat when in fact she had done nothing wrong.
Wolkoff, the author of the New York Times Bestseller Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Frienship with the First Lady, added that the firstd lady finally showed her true colors while speaking on the campaign trail
Melania claimed she was unaware of the payments made and consequently terminated Wolkoff's contract, making it seem as though she had been fired when in fact she had already left her position.
Wolkoff added: 'Had Melania just told the truth that I didn't get fired, none of this would have happened to me.
'Melania said she couldn't support me because she was told by White House counsel that there was going to be an investigation into the finances of Trump’s inaugural committee. What she was really saying was that I was going to take the fall and there was nothing she could about it. That’s when I knew she didn’t have my back and that’s when I pressed record. I was now branded a criminal. I had to prove my innocence.’
After the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Wolkoff over her memoir, Melania released a statement claiming the author ‘hardly knew me’ and was ‘trying to distort my character’.
The First Lady went on to say Wolkoff should be ‘looking within at her own dishonest behavior.’
Wolkoff who attended Melania’s wedding and has plenty of evidence supporting their longtime friendship says, ‘Melania knows fact from fiction, but just like her husband, she has failed to tell the public the truth.
'They tell them lies whenever it benefits them, which is all of the time, because if you judged them based on the facts, you would never be able to support them. I learned the hard way.’
On Tuesday night, Melania had her first solo campaign stop of the year in Pennsylvania.
While she didn't call out the 'fake news' as her husband likes to call them, Melania did attack the media for its coverage, saying there was too much of a focus on 'gossip.'
And in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com Wolkoff blasted her former friend for being 'hypocritical' and 'bullying' her, while her Be Best initiative is all about kindness and anti-bullying
She said: 'When he decided to run for president as a Republican, the media created a different picture of my husband— one I didn't recognize— and treated all his supporters with equal disdain.
'The media has chosen to focus on stories of idle gossip and palace intrigue by editorializing real events and policies with their own bias and agendas,' she said.
Melania then focused on the media's coverage of Wolkoff's book, which painted her in an unflattering light.
Wolkoff also released recorded conversations she made of the first lady, which featured Melania Trump disparaging remarks about Christmas and immigrant children separated from the families at the border.
Melania said in her speech: 'What drives the news are the handpicked, angry, and often baseless claims from anonymous sources or angry ex-employees who are only trying to distract from the important work happening inside the White House,' she said.
In reaction, Wolkoff said: 'I'm surprised that Melania continues to mention her angry ex-employees, but not surprised that she plays with the truth--something I first experienced in the White House when she betrayed my trust and our friendship by refusing to publicly acknowledge that I did not receive $26 million dollars and that I was not fired, but instead used me as a pawn in the administration's coverup for the presidential inauguration financing scandal.'
Wolkoff also scoffed at Melania's mention of her Be Best initiative that aims to help children, as Trump's third wife scolded the media on not focusing on that.
Wolkoff said: 'The fact that she says she cares about children, what has she done for children? Nothing. Covid, what has she done? She wears a mask on a public service announcement and then she goes to a school the next day without one.
'Melania's entire being is now in line and in step with Donald and the West Wing and that's who she is.
Wolkoff said: 'Melania's entire being is now in line and in step with Donald and the West Wing and that's who she is. Melania is not only complicit to Donald's actions, she is his enabler and an accomplice to his dirty deeds'
Wolkoff said Melania does not care about the American people, including her supporters. Wolkoff asked: 'Can anyone name one thing Melania has done to help Americans? She does not care. She said it herself when she wore her jacket with the words I don't care, do you?'
She continued: 'Melania is not only complicit to Donald's actions, she is his enabler and an accomplice to his dirty deeds.
'[On Tuesday] she memorialized her Trumpian roots and hopped aboard the Trump rhetoric bandwagon and delivered a scripted speech that was filled with distortions of the truth.'
Wolkoff said Melania does not care about the American people, including her supporters.
She recalled: 'I remember being with Melania when she was at home after getting out of the hospital back in 2018 and Donald pointed up to the window and said wave, and Melania just rolled her eyes in disgust and said do they really think I'm going to stand by the window and wave at them?!'
Wolkoff asked: 'Can anyone name one thing Melania has done to help Americans? She does not care. She said it herself when she wore her jacket with the words I don't care, do you?'
The former Vogue staffer questioned Melania's decision to use the word socialist to describe Biden during her speech.
'It's her one word 'socialist' she has nothing else to say. She just keeps repeating herself. It's rhetoric. Like Trump, they just repeat, repeat, repeat,' she said.
Looking back at her time in the White House, Wolkoff said she was honored when first asked to be Melania's top advisor.
She said: 'I would have done anything for her, she was the First Lady of the United States of America. I didn't know the divisiveness and the deceit. I didn't know any of it.'
The mother of three says she expected to hear something from Melania's team with regard to her memoir, but never imagined she would get sued by the Department of Justice.
'It's aggressive and hurtful. I have spent so much time and money. It's literally taken over my life. I live and breathe lawyers and subpoenas because of them,' Wolkoff said.
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