Melania Trump has reportedly been taped making disparaging comments about her husband, US President Donald Trump, and his children from previous marriages - particularly his eldest daughter, Ivanka.
On Monday (local time), American journalist Yashar Ali, who has contributed to the likes of NBC News and New York magazine, revealed via unnamed sources that Stephanie Winston Wolkoff - a former friend and advisor to the First Lady - had taped Melania revealing bitter sentiments towards her husband and his adult children. It's believed Wolkoff will share the contents of the alleged tapes in her upcoming, tell-all book Melania & Me, due to be released on September 1.
In his newsletter, Ali claimed the First Lady had expressed "harsh comments about Ivanka Trump, the President's elder daughter and a senior adviser".
"It’s unclear what exactly Wolkoff is alleging that the first lady said about the president and his adult children, but two sources familiar with the contents of Melania & Me confirmed that she reveals the details in her book, including harsh comments about Ivanka Trump, the president's elder daughter and a senior adviser," Ali wrote.
"It's also unclear if Wolkoff reveals in the book that she taped her conversations with the first lady, but I'm told by sources that the published comments are based on audiotapes."
As reported by The Guardian, who obtained a copy of the book, Wolkoff has accused Ivanka of frequently seeking to undermine her stepmother. Following one fight, the First Lady allegedly referred to Ivanka as a "snake".
Wolkoff's memoir also suggests that Ivanka was behind a scandal involving the plagiarising of material from former First Lady Michelle Obama during Melania's speech at the last Republican National Convention in 2016.
As reported by The Guardian, Wolkoff writes: "If Ivanka controlled Rick [Gates, the former Trump deputy campaign chief], and Rick had allegedly written Melania's convention speech, did that mean Ivanka was behind that major faux pas/sabotage?"
The reports follow the publication of a surreptitious recording that had taped Trump's older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, labelling her brother as a "cruel man" with "no principles". The tapes were made by Mary L Trump, the President's niece, who released her bestselling book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man in July.
US publishing company Simon & Schuster, which has a history of releasing tell-all memoirs on the President, will also release Melania & Me.
According to promotional material by Simon & Schuster, Wolkoff was a trusted friend and confidante of the First Lady, who witnessed the early days of Trump and the former model's burgeoning relationship through to the 2016 election, which saw Trump take the title as US President.
Wolkoff, a New York City events planner, was subsequently hired to help produce the 58th Presidential Inauguration and became Melania Trump's advisor. However, the friendship came to a bitter end when Wolkoff was "made the scapegoat for inauguration finance irregularities" and Melania failed to defend her - a "betrayal" that deeply affected Wolkoff.
Fundraising for Trump's inauguration has been subject to scrutiny by the special counsel and authorities in New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, with allegations that the funds were used to benefit the Trump family. As reported by the Associated Press, the District of Columbia's attorney general, Karl Racine, claimed the inaugural committee misused nonprofit funds, enriching the President's family in the process. The committee raised an unprecedented US$107 million to host events celebrating Trump's inauguration in January 2017.
According to the promotional material, Melania & Me will address a number of the salacious scandals that have dogged Trump's presidency, including Melania's reaction to the Access Hollywood tape, in which her husband boasted of grabbing women "by the pussy"; his infamous affair with pornstar Stormy Daniels - an entanglement Trump continues to deny; the First Lady's reportedly frosty relationship with Trump's eldest daughter Ivanka; and what really happened with the inauguration's funding.
Melania & Me is the latest in a string of revealing memoirs regarding the President, due to be published before the November 3 election.
Details of Wolkoff's upcoming book were conveniently revealed before Melania's speech during day two of the Republican National Convention in North Carolina.
