As the January 6 Committee continues to uncover even more disturbing details about the attack on the Capitol Building, there isn’t just one Trump coming under more scrutiny.
Every new stone the committee looks under seems to show more abhorrent (and possibly criminal) behavior by Donald Trump. There’s the alleged assault against a Secret Service agent in an attempt to lead the crowd into the building himself (and the disturbing fact that agency happened to “lose” all records of their communications on January 5 and 6). More recently the committee released footage of all the outtakes of the former president attempting to record his video telling the rioters to “go home.” The internet has spent the past 24 hours in equal parts amused and aghast at his failure to release a message condemning insurrection. Not only does he not want to say what they’re doing is bad, he refused to even begin filming until after Congress and the VP were already safe. So in essence, after it no longer mattered.
“I don’t want to say, ‘The election is over.’” No kidding.
But like we said, he isn’t the only one who couldn’t be bothered to release a timely statement condemning the violence against lawmakers.
Related: Trump Told Team He’s Running For President To Keep From Being Indicted For Crimes
Former FLOTUS Melania Trump also wouldn’t say anything. While the Committee isn’t calling her to testify, so far as we know, she clearly knows enough to realize this looks bad. So she released a statement on Friday morning claiming she “was unaware” of the attack until later. She claims she was too busy being in charge of documenting the White House’s rooms? She explained:
“On January 6, 2021, I was fulfilling one of my duties as First Lady of the United States of America, and accordingly, I was unaware of what was simultaneously transpiring at the U.S. Capitol Building. As with all First Ladies who preceded me, it was my obligation to record the contents of the White House’s historic rooms, including taking archival photographs of all the renovations.”
Former Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham wrote in her tell-all book about her time with the First Lady, I’ll Take Your Questions Now, that Melania had been attending a “photo shoot of a rug” on January 6. We guess this is what she meant?
Melania continued in her defense:
“Several months in advance, I organized a qualified team of photographers, archivists, and designers to work with me in the White House to ensure perfect execution. As required, we scheduled January 6, 2021, to complete the work on behalf of our Nation. This is a very significant undertaking and requires great care, attention to detail, and concentration — both in the planning and execution.”
Official Statement from Mrs. Melania Trump pic.twitter.com/Ara8VESmRl
— Office of Melania Trump (@OfficeofMelania) July 22, 2022
Look, we’re sure it’s a detailed and painstaking process photographing all the rooms of the White House. It sounds like she planned it out, hired everyone… but it’s not like she was holding the camera. We mean, she makes it sound like she was incommunicado during her artistic process and couldn’t have possibly learned about violent riots happening just down the road!
We mean… most of you were probably working that day. Y’all probably still heard about it. This was BIG news. And in Melania’s case, this was in her backyard! Her husband was present and supposedly potentially in danger. Seems pretty far-fetched she wouldn’t have been made aware of the shocking events.
Well, it’s more than conjecture. We have proof she’s lying. That is, if you trust the evidence presented by her former employee. Grisham actually brought the receipts to Twitter last month, showing a text message she sent to her boss about the events. In fact, she was asking about putting out a statement! She asked “MT”:
“Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness & violence?”
Melania’s response?
“No.”
— Stephanie Grisham (@OMGrisham) June 28, 2022
Hmm. If that text is the genuine article, it seems like she might have been caught in a lie. Shocking, we know.
Why wouldn’t she want to tweet out against “lawlessness and violence”? Maybe because that’s exactly what her hubby was inciting??