A former senior adviser to First Lady Melania Trump blasted her ex-boss’s citizenship ceremony speech as “repulsive.”
The former first lady made a rare public appearance on Friday, speaking at the National Archives at a citizenship ceremony, celebrating 25 new citizens. Ms Trump, who is from Slovenia, described her own immigration journey as “arduous,” adding that the process turned her life “into a labyrinth of organising paperwork.”
Speaking on CNN, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff called the speech “deceptive, almost deceitful” and said she found her words “lacking of any real meaning.”
Ms Wolkoff continued, “It’s unfortunate because she had an opportunity as the first lady of the United States to make a difference, and she didn’t at all.”
The former senior adviser pointed out that Ms Trump was “the second first lady of the United States of America to ever be an immigrant” and at one point, she “had the opportunity to make such a difference in the lives of so many,” especially because her husband, Donald Trump, “is so against” immigration.
As president and afterwards, Mr Trump has pushed an anti-immigration agenda and has emphasised tighter migration protocols, like building a wall at the southern border. Just days after his wife’s citizenship ceremony speech, Mr Trump told New Hampshire rally attendees that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of the country.”
So, underscoring his agenda, Ms Wolkoff added that for Ms Trump to “be there under the guise that she cares about America and democracy is untruthful.” She called her former boss’s speech a publicity stunt: “I find it to be really quite repulsive.”
She later pointed out that despite distancing herself from the former president on the campaign trail as of late, Ms Wolkoff described her former boss as “complicit” and is “exactly like Donald, just, unfortunately, in a skirt and high heels, and showing up today was just another way for her to have some camera time.”
After being asked if she thought Ms Trump would continue to stick by the 2024 frontrunner’s side — as he faces a series of legal battles and as she rarely appears beside him — the former adviser said: “I believe that Melania will stay by Donald’s side. Throughout all of this, she is his partner in crime.”
