Melania Trump took a swipe at the Obamas over what she claims was a “challenging transition” in 2017.
The incoming first lady’s dig follows Michelle Obama’s decision to miss President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration next week.
Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt sat down with Melania earlier this week and asked her what the difference was between preparing to move into the White House previously, compared to now.
“The difference is I know where I will be going, I know the rooms where we will be living. I know the process,” Melania said. “The first time was challenging, we didn’t have much of the information.
“The information was upheld [sic] for us from [the] previous administration.”
Melania added that this time she “has everything” she needs and is “already packed” and ready to go. “It’s [a] very different transition second time around,” she said.
The Independent has contacted representatives for the Obamas for comment.
When asked whether the Bidens have been accommodating in the transition process, Melania swerved the question. “They’re still living there and will be out on January 20,” she said. “The transition team has only five hours to move Bidens out to move us in.”
It comes as Michelle Obama’s representatives confirmed she will be skipping Trump’s inauguration next week. No official reason was given, but a report yesterday claimed it is because she doesn’t want to “plaster” on a smile for someone she fundamentally believes is a threat to American democracy.
“There’s no overstating her feelings about [Trump]. She’s not one to plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol’s sake,” a source reportedly told PEOPLE. “Michelle doesn’t do anything because it’s expected or it’s protocol or it’s tradition.”
The first ladies had an awkward moment during Trump’s first inauguration when Melania surprised Obama with a gift in a moment that went viral.
When presented with the gift, it was clear Obama did not know what to do with it as she awkwardly looked around for a place to put it while shooting a quick look at the camera.
Obama revealed in an interview two years later that it was down to “protocol.” She also later shared the difficulty of sitting in the audience and watching as Trump was sworn in.
“To sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display, there was no diversity, there was no color on that stage,” she said on her show The Light Podcast in 2023. “There was no reflection of the broader sense of America. Many people took pictures of me and they’re like, you weren’t in a good mood. No, I was not.”
After snubbing President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, Trump became the first president to refuse to attend a successor’s swearing-in since 1869.
