As President Donald Trump challenges election results, his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, has privately tasked an emissary with discreetly finding out what was available to her in terms of budget and staff allocation for post-White House life, CNN reports.
While the President is busy figuring out a way to stay in
the White House, the first lady is determining what to put in storage, what
goes to Trump’s New York City digs, and what should be tagged for shipment to
Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
“She just wants to go home,” said another source familiar
with Melania Trump’s state of mind.
Asked how the first lady feels about rumors her husband
might announce a 2024 bid, the source added, “That might not go over well.”
The first lady quietly brought on Marcia Lee Kelly to her
scant East Wing staff in April as a special government employee who could add
gravitas and experience. She is unpaid and serves in a volunteer capacity but
her job as Trump’s special adviser proved helpful as the waning months of her
first-term tenure.
Kelly had previously run the White House Office of
Administration and after it became clear Trump would need to prep for her life
after Washington the first lady told Kelly to discreetly ask West Wing
acquaintances and a member of the Office of Management and Budget whether there
were taxpayer funds allocated to former first ladies, according to two sources
familiar with the discussions.
The short answer is no. While there are post-presidential
perks for such things for the outgoing commander in chief, budgets to set up an
official office and staff and cover some travel costs, there is nothing from
the government for any first lady, save a paltry $20,000-a-year pension, which
is paid out only if her husband dies.
According to discussions with three sources familiar, there
is currently ongoing inventory being taken at the White House of the Trump’s
own furniture and art and personal items. And the first lady is hyper-focused
of late on her legacy. One thing Trump is considering is a book, though it will
likely not be a memoir — the post-White House writing of which is a tradition
most first ladies have adhered to. Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” and
Laura Bush’s memoir, “Spoken from the Heart,” were massive bestsellers.
Instead, Trump is said to be toying with writing a
photo-centric coffee table book about White House hospitality history, or one
perhaps centered on the design projects she has completed while first lady,
according to a source in the publishing industry familiar with preliminary
discussions.
“Mrs. Trump is focused on her role as first lady. Her
schedule remains full with her duties as a mother, wife and first lady of the
United States,” the first lady’s chief of staff Stephanie Grisham told CNN.
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