Amid concerns for her husband’s safety after two attempts on his life, former first lady Melania Trump praised her and the former president’s Secret Service detail, but concedes she’s not sure she fully trusts the agency’s leadership.
“I have a great team in my detail around me and my husband as well. I think there are some holes — something is going on at the top level,” Melania Trump, 54 told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” in a pretaped interview.
“It’s hard to say that you trust, right? Who [do] you really trust? You want to, but it’s always a question mark,” she later added, when pressed by host Maria Bartiromo.
The 45th president drew a monster crowd during his emotional return to Butler Farm Show grounds in Pennsylvania on Saturday to finish up the rally that had been cut short 12 weeks ago by the first assassination attempt against him.
Trump himself has defended some of the Secret Service agents who were there to protect him on July 13, but also accused the Harris-Biden administration of not giving him sufficient protection. The former president has also admitted that he’s “always worried” about his safety.
The Secret Service has been under heavy scrutiny in the wake of the July 13 and subsequent Sept. 15 assassination attempts against Trump. Its former director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in July and multiple investigations are underway into the security failures.
Melania Trump, who has rarely been seen on the campaign trail, hailed her husband as a “fighter” who returned to Butler eager to show the world that “one shooter will not stop him.”
At one point during the wide-ranging interview, the Slovenian-born former supermodel opined on the state of the 2024 presidential election, downplaying the deluge of polls characterizing the contest between her husband and Vice President Kamala Harris as a nail biter.
“I don’t believe in polls. I never did,” she said. “I think [in] the end, people really see it —what’s going on in the country and how this leadership is performing.”
The former first lady has reentered the public spotlight to promote her eponymous forthcoming memoir, “Melania,” which is set to hit bookshelves this week.
One key revelation from the book is an apparent split from her husband’s 2016 campaign-era position on abortion policy.
Donald Trump has repeatedly shifted his stance on abortion, having professed pro-choice views in the 1990s only to characterize himself as pro-life in 2011. He told Christian Broadcasting Network at the time that his conversation came after a friend’s wife became pregnant with an unwanted baby who became “the apple of his eye.”
In April of this year, Trump announced that he was opposed to a federal ban on abortion, instead seeking to defer the contentious issue to the states. During the vice presidential debate, he confirmed that he’d veto a federal abortion ban.
Melania Trump explained in her book that she had long been pro-choice and revealed on “Sunday Morning Futures” that her husband was well aware of her beliefs.
“[Donald] knew my position and my beliefs since the day we met. And I believe in individual freedom. I want to decide what I want to do with my body. I think I don’t want government in my personal business,” she said.
“He lets me be who I am, and he lets me believe what I believe. He lets me be my own person. And he does respect that, and I respect that as I let him be his own person. He has different beliefs and he will do what he believes,” she later added.
The former first lady had cut a video to promote her upcoming memoir in which she detailed her position on abortion.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, every living first ladies since the overturning of Roe v. Wade have expressed staunch or at least quasi-pro-choice views on abortion.
Republicans have grappled with how to handle the albatross issue, with polls roundly indicating voters trust Democrats more on abortion policy.
