“I find it shameful that around these tragic events there have been lewd gossip, unwarranted personal attacks and false misleading accusations about me – from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda,” wrote Mrs. Trump in a statement posted on the official website of the House White.
On Monday, Mrs. Trump set a different tone in what looked like a farewell video. She promoted her time as first lady and her fledgling platform, Be Best, again asking the rest of the country to uphold ideals that her husband spent four years ignoring.
“Use every opportunity to show consideration for someone else,” said Ms. Trump. “In all circumstances, I ask every American to be an ambassador for Be Best. To focus on what unites us, to rise above what divides us, to always choose love over hatred, peace over violence and others above you. “
Mrs.’s friends Trump says she is a better person than the country has ever seen, that she sometimes tried unsuccessfully to be a moderating influence on her husband and was irritated by the way he handled his last few months at the White House.
“Melania is and will continue to be the most popular Trump,” said Kellyanne Conway, a former adviser to the president, in an interview. “She will use her platform for the good of others. As first lady, she was fully involved, but not overly exposed. There remains a curiosity and a mystery about it. “
But publicly she showed a side that critics thought could be terribly insensitive and, like her husband, dramatically self-pity. In 2018, on returning from a visit to a Texas border town to find detained immigrant children, Ms. Trump did what turned out to be her most explicit fashion statement, wearing a jacket with the phrase: “I really don’t care. You? “