First Lady Melania Trump has been raking in "extraordinary" profits during the Trump administration despite doing very little, according to The Daily Beast.
In a Tuesday article, The Daily Beast reported that Melania individually made close to $17 million last year based on annual financial disclosures. Most of her earnings came from the Brett Ratner-directed documentary about her released earlier this year, her book sales and crypto NFTs, The Daily Beast reported.
Trump biographer Michael Wolff reacted to the findings in a Tuesday episode of Inside Trump's Head, which is produced by The Daily Beast. Wolff has notably been battling Melania's lawyers in court after he made public comments connecting the first lady to Jeffrey Epstein's social circle.
"This is extraordinary," Wolff said. "Among all of the extraordinary things in the Trump administration, among all the norm-breaking, this one is right out up front."
The reporting on Melania's earnings comes after The Daily Beast performed a First Lady "audit," in which it used Melania's public calendar to compare her use of time with former first ladies Jill Biden and Michelle Obama. The Daily Beast found that Melania has done a third less than Jill Biden and delivered 78 percent fewer speeches than Michelle Obama. Melania was also noticeably absent during chunks of July and August.
"She doesn't do anything as the first lady," Wolff said. "What are the two roles of being the first lady? to sort of be a model of domestic propriety at some level, and support good causes. Well, she's clearly not a model of domestic propriety and the cause that she supports is...her own business interests."
Melania earned $10 million from her eponymous documentary, even though it cost $75 million to produce and earned only $17 million worldwide during its theatrical run, according to The Daily Beast. She also collected $6 million from her NFTs, and another $500,000 from her autobiography, according to disclosures reviewed by The Daily Beast.