Donald Trump would always 'choose' Ivanka over Melania, claims former aide: 'She's Donald's ace in a hole'
It's safe to say there is no love lost between former First Lady Melania Trump and her former aide and friend, Stephanie Wilson Wolkoff. In the latest of the tidbits Wolkoff provides with respect to the former First Lady, she said that former President Donald Trump would choose his daughter Ivanka Trump over his wife Melania. Wolkoff was a longtime friend of Melania Trump with ties to the world of fashion and New York society. She was part of the Trumps' inner circle and one of the key planners of Donald Trump's inauguration events in 2017. She even worked with Melania in the East Wing during the beginning of the administration.
However, things turned sour and Wolkoff left the White House, and later wrote her side of the story in 'Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady', which released in September 2020. Among the many revelations within the book were allegations of tensions between Melania and her stepdaughter, Ivanka. Reportedly, Melania and Wolkoff planned what they jokingly referred to as "Operation Block Ivanka", an effort to keep the former First Daughter from being positioned visibly close to her father during his swearing-in ceremony.
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In an interview with She Knows, Wolkoff said of her writing the book, "One of the reasons why I wrote ‘Melania and Me’ in the way that I wrote it… was to highlight the way that Ivanka would usurp Melania and all the traditions of the White House and didn’t care about any rules and didn’t care about anyone else.”
While she believes that Melania Trump was fully complicit with her husband during his presidency, it is Ivanka Trump that she fears, specifically as she expressed concerns over Ivanka Trump's potential political future following her father's exit from the White House. According to Wolkoff, Ivanka Trump is prized by Donald as the family's next star. Wolkoff said, "She’s Donald in a suit. She is Donald’s one ace in the hole. And if Donald had to choose between anyone, it would be Ivanka." The former aide also explained why it took her a long time to "realize Melania wasn't really my friend."
She told the publication, "Many people have criticized me for taking way too long to realize that Melania wasn’t really my friend. I think I held on to the friendship because I wanted to believe that she would come out and say something, anything in my defense…they do not do that.”
However, Melania Trump has rejected claims made by Wolkoff against her. Last year, the former first lady issued a statement saying that Wolkoff "hardly knew" her and was "trying to distort my character." She captioned the tweet with the statement, "When the media chooses to focus on self-serving individuals & salacious gossip instead of work to help our next generation, it needs to be talked about."
When the media chooses to focus on self-serving individuals & salacious gossip instead of work to help our next generation, it needs to be talked about: ⬇️ https://t.co/0VIv1DcG35
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) October 16, 2020
Melania Trump said in the statement, "A person who said she 'made me' even though she hardly knew me, and someone who clung to me after my husband won the Presidency. This is a woman who secretly recorded our phone calls, releasing portions from me that were out of context, then wrote a book of idle gossip trying to distort my character. Her 'memoir' included blaming me for her ailing health from an accident she had long ago, and for bad news coverage that she brought upon herself and others. Never once looking within at her own dishonest behavior and all in an attempt to be relevant. These kinds of people only care about their personal agenda — not about helping others."