Melania Trump says her husband does not always welcome her candid assessments of his public appearances, even though she continues to give him her unfiltered opinion.
Speaking on Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning, the First Lady praised Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations General Assembly, delivered in New York the previous day.
After host Brian Kilmeade observed that Trump frequently asks for her views on his speeches and interviews, Melania said: “I told him he had great delivery, he did very well. And a great speech.”
She added that her feedback is not always easy for the president to hear. “So I tell him the truth. Sometimes he doesn’t want to hear it, what I tell him, but that’s okay. I always say the truth,” she said.
Melania offered a more measured response when asked how Trump was coping with the demands of his second term. “It’s very different, what’s going on around the world now. But I think he’s doing the best that he can,” she said.
She described Trump as relentlessly energetic, saying he works “from morning until evening nonstop” and has more stamina than anyone she knows.
Melania watched from the UN chamber on Tuesday as her 80-year-old husband threatened to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” of Iran and called on world leaders to support its “complete economic isolation.”
During the address, Trump also paused to look for his wife after crediting her efforts in helping secure the return of “many displaced Ukrainian and Russian children.”
Melania praised Donald Trump’s United Nations General Assembly speech during an appearance on Fox & Friends the morning after his New York address
Donald Trump delivers remarks at the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on Tuesday
Melania Trump sits alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the United Nations
“Where is our First Lady? Where is she? She’s around here someplace. Can you imagine? I can’t see the First Lady,” Trump said as he searched the chamber for her.
Melania appeared on Fox to promote Imperia, a women’s leadership summit described by its hosts as a “Davos for executive women.” She later rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange at 9:30 a.m. Fox News Media is a partner in the event.
She also said she maintains “a direct channel with Russia, and with Ukraine,” adding that her representative is continuing efforts to reunite children displaced by the war with their families.
Trump told the UN that he was working “very closely with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine” and said, “we will get that one done.”
The president met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the gathering Tuesday. According to the Wall Street Journal, Zelensky asked for a “winter package” of additional weapons, including Patriot missile defense systems.
Trump has also urged Zelensky to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, following a record rise in US diesel prices. Russia accounts for roughly 10 percent of the world’s seaborne diesel trade.
The worsening situation is putting further strain on global energy markets, which are already under pressure from the war in Iran and from Iran-backed Houthi militants tightening control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the vital waterway between Yemen and the Horn of Africa.
Trump said his envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, had held “very productive” discussions with Iran’s UN delegation as part of efforts to bring the war to an end.
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Trump clashes with reporters as Melania watches on
Melania arrives to hear her husband speak
Melania greets Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the UN
Melania trailed by Rubio enters the UN ahead of her husband’s speech
Melania also used her Fox interview to trail a new two-part docuseries, which she said would include ‘some private questions that I will answer that people never heard before.’
‘It’s more conversation one on one with me,’ she said, adding that the series could land in November but no date had been set.
It follows her documentary Melania, directed by Brett Ratner and distributed by Amazon Prime Video.
Trump is due to greet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, his first state visit to Washington in 11 years.
‘He decided to because they have a great relationship and he’s coming on our soil and we need to welcome them with the most respect,’ Melania said.
She said she will take Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan to the Smithsonian on Thursday, ahead of the state dinner that night. The couples are then due to take tea at the White House on Friday before touring the National Archives together.
