Melania, Ivanka were locked in ‘power struggle’ for spotlight and media attention during Trump presidency, new book reveals
Former first lady Melania Trump spent her four years in the White House waging a war against Ivanka Trump — only taking breaks to renegotiate her pre- and post-nuptial agreements with her presidential husband, a new book claims.
The pair had a four-year “internal power struggle” to fill the role of first lady, which Ivanka had tried to assume when Melania didn’t immediately move into the Executive Mansion at the start of Donald Trump’s term, according to an early viewing by The Post of Katie Rogers’ forthcoming book “American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden.”
Ivanka reportedly planned to revamp the Executive Mansion’s East Wing while Melania stayed behind in New York to ensure that her son Barron, who was 10 at the time, could finish out the school year.
The eldest daughter had plans to more or less eliminate the first lady’s position by overtaking her quarters, so it could be “geared to serving the entire First Family, not just the First Lady,” Rogers, a New York Times White House reporter, wrote.
President Trump pushed for Ivanka to take on the role alongside Melania, telling reporters early in his tenure that his daughter would be “helping her and working with her” as she carried out her first lady duties.
“She was aware that her husband had suggested that his eldest daughter would be helping to share the responsibilities of being First Lady, and this was not a development that pleased her,” Rogers wrote.
Melania shot down the efforts, kicking off a battle with her stepdaughter who she dubbed “The Princess.”
The duo largely steered clear of one another despite both working closely with President Trump, with Ivanka working as an unpaid adviser in her father’s West Wing.
Even the Slovenian-born first lady’s most infamous moment grew out of her scorn for Ivanka.
According to former administration officials, Melania was sending a message to her stepdaughter when she wore her “I really don’t care, do you?” jacket ahead of her June 2018 visit to see detained migrant children at the southern border.
The pair “were locked in a quiet competition for press coverage” at the time, Rogers reported.
Sources told the journalist that Melania was utterly obsessed with monitoring her public perception and scoured every “mention of her name in the press and often trawled Twitter to see what the press, her critics, and her supporters were saying about her.”
The first lady also thought it was inappropriate for Ivanka and her brothers, as well as all their spouses, to be so heavily involved in the White House.
“If she ever waged a battle over the issue, it is one she clearly lost: For four years, it was hard to see where the operations of the family business stopped and the Trump administration started,” Rogers wrote.
When she wasn’t engaged in petty disputes with Ivanka, Melania was holding “meetings with teams of lawyers to examine her assets and attend to matters associated with her pre- and postnuptial agreements with her husband,” Stephanie Grisham, a top aide to the first lady, told Rogers.
Rogers disputed previous reporting that the negotiations revolved Barron, instead saying Melania was laser-focused on her own financial security.
“I know that she had very separate finances that she watched very carefully, and she had her own lawyers that she met with a good amount,” Grisham recalled.
“It often had to do with prenups and money in the bank that she had personally.”
The negotiations lasted throughout the Trump presidency, the book claims.
Melania’s office confirmed the meetings but denied the pre-nuptial details.
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“Mrs. Trump had a successful career before she met her husband and has always had her own businesses and assets,” a spokesperson for Melania told Rogers.
“As an accomplished professional, she frequently meets with her counsel.”
The book also teased that Melania and her successor Jill Biden have exchanged birthday cards with each other since Trump left office.
Reps for Melania and Ivanka couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Although she fought fiercely for her first lady position, Melania has been largely absent on her husband’s re-election campaign trail.
Trump promised last week that his wife is expected to make more regular appearances as the race inches closer to the ballot box.
