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In his White House memoir,Team of Vipers, out now, ex-staffer Cliff Sims reveals insider details about Melania and her relationship with the president — some of which counterbalance reports of marital strife that have plagued the couple since the 2016 presidential campaign.
One particularly moving moment occurred on election night, Sims writes.
From left: Donald Trump, Barron Trump and Melania Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2015.Gustavo Caballero/Getty
He continues: “Sensing this wasMelania Trump. Melania was never the person outside observers seemed convinced that she was — a reluctant and put-upon spouse who just wanted to escape him. For good or ill, she was in it with him all the way.”
Sims recalls that the first lady squeezed the then president-elect’s hand.
“We’re going to do this together,” Melania told her husband, according to the book, “and you’re going to be a great president.”
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The White House has pushed back against such allegations, but that hasn’t stopped speculation from swirling around the status of the first couple’s relationship. Since coming to Washington, D.C., they have weathered allegations ofextra-marital affairs, endless online scrutiny of Melania’shabit of physically avoiding her husbandand more than a dozen allegations that the president has sexually assaulted or abused women, all of which he denies.
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Though Sims is critical of the president and the chaos of the White House inTeam of Vipers, he has no such qualms about fully defending the first lady. (The White House has not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.)
Upon its publication, President Trump dismissed the claims made inTeam of Vipers.
“A low-level staffer that I hardly knew named Cliff Sims wrote yet another boring book based on made up stories and fiction,” Trump wrote on Tuesday. “He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. He signed a non-disclosure agreement. He is a mess!”
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“As with every marriage, they had their good days and bad days, often centering around times when accusations of past infidelity were in the news,” he continues. “But from what I saw she never wavered in her support, and she was serious about her official role as first fady and her self-appointed role as her husband’s fiercest protector.”
When Melania wasn’t defending her husband, Sims writes that she “obsessed over every detail of White House social events.” During the 2017 White House Easter Egg Roll, he writes that “her lips formed into a judgmental frown” when she saw a junior staffer dressed as the Easter Bunny.
“That needs to be taken off,” she told the staffer, per the book.
“He was wearing a light blue vest, and for whatever reason the color or the fabric intruded on the first lady’s milieu,” Sims writes. “With seconds to go, staffers jumped into action, scrambling to undress the white bunny in full view of a slightly perplexed president.”
“That’s much better,” Melania said, according to Sims.
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The first lady may be eager to participate in White House social events, but they haven’t saved her from criticism. She’s been often attacked for continuing to remain with the president who champions anti-immigrant policies (ironically, she hails from Slovenia) and rhetoric that is often offensive towards women. Melania came under fire directly after parts of her speech at theRepublican National Conventionin July 2016sounded very similarto the words of then-aspiring First LadyMichelle Obama.
Even after the controversy died down, she continued to be nervous about making speeches. InTeam of Vipers, Sims recalls when the first couple prepared to record the 2017 Christmas video message.
“[Melania] was a bit nervous ahead of video recordings and public appearances in which she would speak,” he writes. “She occasionally expressed concerns that her accent was too strong and made her hard to understand. So she practiced relentlessly for any speaking role she needed to play.”
According to the book, for the recording session the president “was clearly trying to impress” Melania.
“He was focused. He wanted to nail his lines on the first take,” Sims writes. “When it was her turn to speak and she’d make a mistake, he’d encourage her.”
“‘You sound like you’re from New York, honey,'” Trump told Melania, per the book. “‘Can’t even tell you have an accent.'”
source: people.com
