Melania Trump has 'a transactional marriage', says ex-aide Stephanie Winston Wolkoff - BBC Newsnight

melania to everyone else is an enigma melania has this wall around her it's impenetrable steel it's you know it's kept her mysterious to the world and she has nothing nothing behind that is what represents the true melania um you know the mysteriousness the the ability to keep that wall up has enabled her to keep this mystique the sphinx-like um being that everyone is so um wondering if that's really who she is and it's led to a lot of conversation is she a victim is she locked up is she you know going to divorce him and the reality is is perception for the trumps is everything we know that it's been written about by you know ivanka's own words you describe their engagement in 2004 as either a magic moment or making a deal is it a transaction do you believe that i do i do believe it's a transactional marriage i mean donald you know donald got arm candy um the vogue cover legitimized melania which legitimized donald as well and melania got two dynamic decades i mean she was a young model striving she was didn't have the success yet she met donald she married she had a son she became an american citizen and 10 years after that she's the first lady of the united states so i do believe it was a magic moment and i also believe it was a made-for-tv moment so you paint a picture of a woman who knows exactly what her husband is doing all the time actually and she's just as manipulative yet you were enthralled i mean does that make you a bad judge of character i don't think it does because melania and i had spent so much time together one-on-one and as a working mother with three children my time with melania was always either at lunch or at her apartment there were no other people around it was a very um heartfelt time where i was able to express myself and melania always gave me such common you know advice as to just let things be as they are you know you can't change people it's just very very um i walked out of there feeling so confident and so in control and yet as soon as i walked out the door everything fell apart because that's what real life is like but no i i was i you know i think our friendship really did strengthen i'm not i think i know our friendship grew um a lot closer towards the end of 2015 um but to me at the time i didn't realize the manipulation of it um we were close i liked her she liked me but as far as you know i do believe we shared something that was a true friendship and but a true friendship would last this one didn't let me ask you about the relationship with ivanka and melania i mean they it was a toxic relationship who was worse so ivanka is very in control and has a lot of um cohorts to back her up in whatever she's doing she is um she really just wanted to use sir melania in every which way not only as the first daughter the first lady and i say she's the you know princess that wanted to be queen um she unfortunately um really hindered any progress of an initiative for the first lady or any movement for melania to do anything let's move on to really the nub of this which was the most expensive inauguration history twice the cost of the obama one you were accused by new york times of taking 26 billion dollars for your firm you were very experienced organizer of massive events yet you never signed an agreement to assume budget and financial responsibility was that by accident or was it by design um me not signing anything was was done by uh design and by accident i mean i came in to produce two events that turned into 18 events and then later turned into two hour live broadcasts um i only signed on to oversee and produce those events so everything used do you think you were being used then again unfortunately the the trumps um and their their the executive team and their friends um are the best manipulators i happen to be someone who does wear her heart on her sleeve my loyalty is my achilles heel and i am very um tunnel vision so when i start something i finish it um i know that i didn't have any legal legalities to sign a check nor did i have access to any bank finance or any ability to make a financial decision i just questioned everything not only to the trumps themselves not as melania and donald but to the chairman the deputy chairman and the rest of the committee so do you think there was do you think there was corruption and grift at the heart of the inauguration something denied by the presidential inaugural committee the presidential inaugural committee as well as donald and melania deny they even knew about the any anything taking place at the inauguration so just let's start there as far as um mis leading the public as to what the money was spent on well that's why i wrote the book partly is to show you you know follow the follow follow the trail and are you uh you said you got 480 000 for working on the inauguration there was not another penny that came uh to you at any point no i actually um it was actually so i actually for for the inauguration as well as the two years that i worked for melania in the white house and for her during the inauguration that was my total i actually it was also a cost you know to me because i gave up everything else i gave up my entire life's work my company my partnerships to go and produce the inauguration as well as um help melania establish herself as first lady will this marriage last beyond donald trump's departure from the white house what's your best estimate my best estimate is that melania is not going anywhere she is as complicit in everything that's taking place as he is and it only works as long as they're together i just think it works in general for both of them it's what's best for both and it doesn't matter if it's not best for anyone else they are the center of everything unfortunately that is what um i had to experience firsthand and that is why i had to share with the rest of the world what is really going on behind closed doors is because what everyone thinks they know they don't so yes it is whatever is in their best interest stephanie wilson welcome thank you very much for joining us thank you so much for having me

Channel: BBC Newsnight

Views: 486,511

Keywords: melania trump, donald trump, president donald trump, first lady melania trump, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, melania and me, stephanie winston wolkoff interview, stephanie winston wolkoff book, ivanka trump, whitehuose, uk politics, bbc, bbc news, bbc newsnight, kirsty wark, kirsty wark interview, trump, us election, us election 2020, watch uk tv online, watch british tv online, united states, princess, tell all book, melania and me excerpts, melania, trump inauguration

Id: ZNrm-MaLZTs

Length: 6min 19sec (379 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 11 2020