Jimmy Kimmel has offered his own alternate theory for why Melania Trump has shunned a meeting with First Lady Jill Biden at the White House – and it isn’t due to a so-called “scheduling conflict.”
Dr Biden had extended an olive branch to Melania last week, inviting the 54-year-old American-Slovenian model to join her at the presidential residence for tea and a tour at 11am on Wednesday – just over a week after Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.
It marks a decades-long tradition between current and incoming presidents and their spouses which has seldom been missed, bar 2020 when the Trumps declined to invite the Bidens.
The incoming first lady, however, is said to have declined Biden’s invite, with sources close to the matter telling CNN it was due to an upcoming scheduling conflict related to her New York Times bestselling memoir, Melania.
But the Jimmy Kimmel Live wasn’t convinced, instead sharing his own theory for the snub during Tuesday night’s show.
“She’ll be where he isn’t,” Kimmel said of the president-elect to raucous applause from the studio audience.
“Typically, the first ladies would get together for this meeting. But Melania said no. Trump’s team claims that Melania had a scheduling conflict related to her book that came out five weeks ago. Which doesn’t sound true…,” the late night host said in his opening monologue.
“In fairness to Melania, she’s probably putting up her Christmas decorations, I know that’s something she looks forward to,” he quipped, taking a swipe at her foul-mouthed 2018 rant about decorating the White House for the holidays where she complained “who gives a f*** about Christmas stuff and decorations”.
Trump will be at the White House on Wednesday after he accepted an invitation from President Joe Biden, as the outgoing administration has pledged a “smooth” and “peaceful” transition of power.
Trump’s team has tried to persuade Melania to reconsider her own meeting, deeming it important, CNN reported.
The Bidens’ adherence to tradition comes four years after the Trumps declined to invite them to a White House meeting during the transition period following Biden’s election victory in 2020. The Trumps also refused to attend the January 2021 inauguration.
Meanwhile, in 2016, Melania was welcomed to the president’s official residence by then-first lady Michelle Obama.
Kimmel also went on to question how much time Melania will actually spend in Washington during her husband’s second ter,m.
“When the first lady treats the White House like an Airbnb is that a good sign for a relationship?” Kimmel continued.
“Could you imagine if they split up? Can you imagine a single Donald Trump hitting on UN translators, bringing Playmates from 1994 back to the Lincoln Bedroom. It could be… really great actually.”
During the campaign, a source close to Melania told People it was “not likely” that she would make the White House her main residence – saying the incoming first lady will spread her time between properties in Washington, New York and Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
Pointing to Melania’s absence from a Trump family photo from Election Night, in lieu of the incoming head of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk, Kimmel added: “Now did you notice who’s not in the photo? Melania.”
“You see what you get for $100 million dollars,” he quipped, in reference to Musk’s donations to Trump’s campaign after he spent more than $118m bankrolling his pro-Trump super PAC by late October.
