Melania Trump has blamed the Democrats and mainstream media for “fuelling a toxic atmosphere” and empowering those who “want to do harm” to her husband.
In her first interview in more than two years, the former first lady said she saw her husband’s survival in two attempts on his life as “miracles” before calling on the media and the opposition to stop calling Donald Trump a “threat to democracy”.
She said: “Is it really shocking that all this egregious violence goes against my husband? Especially that we hear the leaders from the opposition party and mainstream media branding him as a threat to democracy, calling him vile names?
“This needs to stop.”
After the first assassination attempt in July at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Mrs Trump said she was alerted of the shooting by a member of staff.
Pic: AP
She said she was in New York when the second attempt at Mr Trump’s golf course in Florida earlier this month happened, and was able to watch television reports unfold from the scene.
“The guys that were with him, they were fantastic. And I think both of the events, they were really miracles,” she said of her husband surviving both assassination attempts.
“I think something was watching over him… It’s almost like [the] country really needs him.”
The pre-recorded interview with Fox News comes as the former first lady has largely been absent from the campaign trail and broke with norms by not speaking at the Republican National Convention.
Former first lady Melania Trump waves while appearing at the Republican National Convention. Pic: AP
In one of the few engagements with her husband’s bid for the White House, Mrs Trump posted on X days after the first assassination attempt on Mr Trump’s life where she urged people to “look beyond” politics.
“We are all humans, and fundamentally, instinctively, we want to help one another,” she said in a statement on 14 July.
Trump with Melania and his daughter Tiffany at his 2017 inauguration. Pic: AP
“Let us remember that when the time comes to look beyond the left and the right, beyond the red and the blue, we all come from families with the passion to fight for a better life together, while we are here, in this earthly realm.”
Having a ‘thick skin’ and no more children
While also promoting her new self-titled memoir, which is set for release on 8 October, Mrs Trump said during the interview that working in the fashion industry prepared her for her role as first lady.
“The fashion industry, it’s glamorous, but it’s, at the same time, very tough,” she said.
Melania and Donald Trump’s only son, Barron. Pic: Reuters
“Everybody judges you… so it can be a mean world as well… nothing prepared me more for this world than fashion. It gives you a thick skin.”
The Slovenian-born former fashion model met Mr Trump in 1998 and the pair got married in 2005. Their son Barron was born the following year.
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When asked by Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt if she and her husband ever discussed growing their family, the former first lady revealed that the Republican presidential nominee tried to persuade her to have more children.
“I was always perfectly fine with one,” she said. “And Donald was encouraging to have more. And I said I’m completely fine with one because it’s a very busy life, and I know how busy he is. And I am in charge of everything.
“So that’s why it’s just perfect.”