Melania Trump is likely to spend most of her time away from the White House as first lady – but she is still “a constant voice” in her husband’s ear.
Instead, Melania will spend most of her time between New York City, where 18-year-old Barron is studying at NYU, and Palm Beach, Florida, sources familiar with her plans told CNN.
While the sources reportedly said that Melania’s preference is “not to be publicly involved,” she was also cited as “a constant voice in her husband’s ear, giving him advice.”
The returning first lady has made it clear that “this time is different” as she prepares to carve out her role as FLOTUS with four years of experience under her belt.
Kate Bennett, former CNN White House correspondent and author of Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography, noted that Melania can “be as active in the East Wing or as inactive as she cares to be.”
“She is not someone secretly supporting the resistance, tapping SOS on the windowpanes – that’s not her,” Bennett told the network.
“She still has to walk the fine line any first lady does, which is why it’s a terrible job: You have to be smart – but not too smart. You have to care about what you look like – but not too much. You have to have thoughts about issues facing the world – but you also have to have a holiday cookie recipe,” Bennett added.
Melania was relatively absent from the campaign trail, only appearing fleetingly at pivotal moments like the RNC, the Madison Square Garden rally, and at the victory party on election night in West Palm Beach.
Speculation about her whereabouts grew when she was absent from a Trump family photo – but Elon Musk was in the shot.
It has charted a course of independence Melania could follow when Trump returns to office in January, though it is understood that she will be present for major events.
On Wednesday she snubbed tea with Jill Biden while the president-elect and President Joe Biden met in the Oval Office to discuss the transition schedule.
It appears she plans to do things her own way.
“I’m not anxious because this time is different,” the Slovenian-born former model told Fox News while promoting her memoir in September. “I have much more experience and much more knowledge. I was in the White House before. When you go in, you know exactly what to expect.”
Melania previously told Fox & Friends’s Ainsley Earhardt that Barron is living at home at Trump Tower in New York City during his studies.
“I could not say I’m an empty nester, I don’t feel that way,” she said.
“I raised Barron as [his] own person and give him his own ‘yes and nos’. I respect that, it was his decision to come here, that he wants to be [in] New York and study [in] New York and live in his home and I respect that.”
