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Ex-Trump Official Talks Melania Getting Paid ‘For Showing Up’ Amid Aide Drama: ‘I Wonder If Her Rate Has Gone Up’
Melania Trump’s limited public appearances in her second term as FLOTUS have gained renewed interest, with a former member of the Trump administration addressing the strange situation.
Ex-deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews discussed the first lady’s noted absence at public events and claimed she didn’t like being at the White House.
Her remarks came after Melania Trump returned to the spotlight after a month-long absence at the White House Rose Garden.
Matthews recently appeared on the “On Sunday with Jack Cocchiarella” podcast and discussed Melania’s role as the first lady.
According to The Daily Beast, Matthews revealed that she never encountered Melania despite working around the president for much of his first term.
” When I was working on the campaign for a year and then at the White House for the last seven months of the first admin, I met the vice president; I met almost every cabinet official,” Matthews said.
She added that she met the members of the first family “at one point or another,” everyone except Melania Trump.
The Former Official Brings Up Claims That The First Lady Gets Paid For Event Appearances
5Matthew, during her podcast appearance, also claimed there’s an understanding among certain people around Trump’s administration that the first lady was not particularly thrilled about spending time at the White House.
“She thought the White House was old and falling apart, and she wanted to be in New York and do her own thing,” the ex-official said.
She further noted that reports have alleged that Melania was compensated for some of her appearances in the administration.
Matthews said, “We know too that—it’s been reported—that Melania gets paid for showing up at events when they were on the campaign trail, which is crazy to think that you have to pay your own wife to show up somewhere.”
Linking it to speculations about Trump’s blonde aide, she added, “I wonder if her rate has gone up after all of this news, because I’m sure she doesn’t like any of this being out there—whether or not it’s true.”
Melania Trump’s Few Appearances Linked To The President’s Executive Assistant
5Matthews also suggested that the timing of Melania’s Rose Garden return was suspicious, due to the recent public scrutiny surrounding Trump’s executive assistant Natalie Harp.
“But I have to admit that the timing is a little suspect with all of the Natalie Harp things happening in the news,” She noted.
Matthews pointed out that the first lady didn’t like the controversy surrounding Harp and her closeness to the president, whether the reports were true or not. Harp reportedly made herself scarce during Melania’s return.
Harp has previously been linked to Melania’s absence. According to a report, Trump biographer Michael Wolff stated that “Since Harp was always around, Melania never was—appearing with her husband only in the last week of the campaign.”
The remarks made by Matthews have sparked conversations about Melania’s low-profile approach compared to other first ladies in recent history.
The First Lady’s Public Outings Pale In Comparison To Her Predecessors
5An analysis done by The Daily Beast details how infrequently the first lady has recently been seen in public.
The report notes that Melania had only made 38 appearances in public this year before her recent return. A number that, according to the publication, works out to one public sighting every six days and has since fallen further.
The first lady’s last public appearance before her return to the spotlight was at the 2026 FIFA World Cup finale on July 19, which she attended with her husband.
She had since been absent and didn’t accompany the president to several public outings, including the dignified transfer of U.S. soldiers who lost their lives.
She also missed the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner and the funeral ceremony of Senator Lindsey Graham on July 28.
The news outlet notes that Melania has only delivered 29 public speeches this term, which pales in comparison to the former First Lady Michelle Obama, who delivered 130 speeches within an equivalent period.
Her limited public exposure stands in contrast with her first term as first lady, when she reportedly appeared on more than 140 days within the first 180 days of Trump’s first presidency.
Melania Trump Returns With Expansion To Her Foster-Care Initiative
5Melania’s 31-day-long disappearance from the public eye ended with her return at the Rose Garden. She directly acknowledged the attention surrounding her absence, saying, “I heard you missed me,” before adding, “Here I am.”
At the event, she revealed her plans to expand the national network of her Fostering the Future initiative.
The initiative, through a $2 million donation from IndyCar and Fox Corporation, will establish scholarships at Indiana University and Purdue University for young boys and girls from the foster care community.
According to The White House, the partnership with IndyCar and Fox Corp will allow the initiative to reach 26 academic institutions across the United States.
The First Lady revealed that a recipient of the initiative had already become a doctor.
She said, “I am very proud to share that this past spring, Fostering the Future scholarships supported the education of our first doctor. He will change the lives of so many people.”
Melania continued, emphasizing the academic opportunities and prospects the initiative makes available for foster youth and signaling a future “powered by American ingenuity.”
The post Ex-Trump Official Talks Melania Getting Paid ‘For Showing Up’ Amid Aide Drama: ‘I Wonder If Her Rate Has Gone Up’ appeared first on KeepLoss.
