Melania Trump, the former first lady, said she blames “opposition party leaders and the mainstream media” for creating the conditions that led to two assassination attempts on former President Donald J. Trump.
In an interview with Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt that aired Thursday morning — the press-shy Mrs. Trump’s first such media appearance in more than two years — she echoed what her husband has said about those attempts, without the kind of harsh language he has used.
Mrs. Trump, who is promoting her memoir, is a private person. Even as first lady, her public appearances were sporadic and she lived a life that kept her largely out of the public eye. Her life after the White House has been similarly isolated, a reality that emerged in the interview.
She has been largely absent from the campaign trail and was not at her husband’s side during two recent assassination attempts. After a gunman was arrested while her husband was golfing at his Florida club on September 15, Mrs. Trump, who was in New York, called to make sure Mr. Trump was safe “as soon as I saw it on TV.”
She added that a second Trump presidency would not be disruptive, beyond his social media presence. “Maybe a few strong tweets. But everything else is perfect for this country,” she said at one point.
Here are some takeaways from his interview.
She defended Trump’s record while remaining both vague and selective on details.
Mrs. Trump, asked about her reaction to President Biden being replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, said her husband’s record spoke for itself.
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