Sources close to Melania Trump “don’t expect her to be full-time” in Washington D.C. as they say the former first lady will buck tradition and decline a meeting with First Lady Jill Biden on Wednesday, CNN’s Kristen Holmes reports.
Holmes spoke of the decision on CNN Tuesday, telling host Pamela Brown the former first lady informed the White House and Donald Trump’s team that “she had a prior engagement related to her book,” “Melania,” which was released on Oct. 8.
The CNN reporter floated the possibility of Melania Trump “[changing] her mind” about Wednesday’s slated meeting at the White House, noting there are people in her husband’s orbit “that really wanted her to go.”
According to Holmes, “part of the reason” the former first lady attended Rosalynn Carter’s funeral was “because she did not want the media narrative that she was not attending.”
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The CNN reporter went on to say it’s clear Melania Trump “really wants nothing to do with” Donald Trump’s second presidential run.
“She appeared three times total in the span of two years,” Holmes said. “One was at his announcement, the second at Madison Square Garden, where she made brief remarks, and the third was standing on the stage election night.”
“We are told that is because she did not want to be in the spotlight,” the CNN reporter added.
Holmes pointed to Melania Trump’s absence at Donald Trump’s debate with President Joe Biden as even more evidence of her withdrawal from her husband's political ambitions.
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“Everybody else from the family was there, everybody's family was there,” Holmes said. “That is a key moment in the campaign to have the first debate and she was nowhere to be seen.”
Melania Trump’s reluctance to appear during her husband’s campaign may extend to his time in the White House, Holmes added.
“There's a lot of special speculation — and I have heard from a lot of sources — they don't expect her to be full-time [in Washington D.C.]," the CNN reporter said. "They insist she will be there for state dinners, big meetings, but she will not set up a full-time residency."
“I am also told that they are looking at possibilities of her splitting her time mostly between New York and Palm Beach,” Holmes added.