Politics - News Analysis

Melania Trump Claims the Clintons Didn’t Give Her and Donald a Wedding Gift

Melania Trump is usually very quiet and rarely gives interviews…she likes to be a mystery.

But during the 2016 campaign she did give an interview to Du Jour magazine where she revealed a bunch of secrets and gripes.

For one, she says she’s not a shy woman, as most people assume.

“I’m not shy. I know what I want, and I’m selective,” Melania said.

Melania also revealed that Bill and Hillary Clinton didn’t get her a gift when she married Donald Trump in 2005.

When the interviewer asked what the Clintons gave the Trumps, Melania said, “I don’t think they sent a gift.” Really? She nods. “Some people didn’t send gifts.”

Hmmmm, that’s odd. Would the Clintons really not send a gift or a cash donation?

Regardless, it’s possible the Trumps wedding and marriage was just one of convenience.

New questions surrounding Melania’s path to US citizenship have surfaced, with one attorney stating she received her green card in 2001 “based on marriage”, four years before she wed Donald Trump.

Melania, a Slovenian-born model who worked in Paris and Milan before landing in New York, said she had never been married before she met the business tycoon.

But Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney who worked for Trump Organization “on behalf of Trump models”, alleges Melania was married before 2005, Univision reported.

Trump’s spokesperson quickly shot down the rumor though saying “Contrary to inaccurate reports, Melania was not married prior to her marriage to Mr. Trump in 2005. She obtained a green card on her own.”

However, is there something “there?”

Neither the president nor the White House have done much to address multiple inconsistencies in her story. This lends credence to notions that there is something else in her story that runs counter to the president’s political brand and is being obscured.

It’s important to ask questions for a few reasons:

1. Donald Trump promised in August 2016 that Melania Trump would hold a news conference to explain her immigration status. It never happened.

“Let me tell you one thing,” President Trump said. “She has got it so documented, so she’s going to have a little news conference over the next couple of weeks.”

That was August 2016, when questions about Melania Trump’s immigration history first cropped up. It has now been over three years, and that news conference has not happened. Instead, Melania Trump tweeted a letter from her immigration attorney in September 2016.

Ever since then, the Trumps have declined promised answers to reporters’ questions.

2. Conflicting statements.

The immigration attorney, Michael J. Wildes, explained in the letter that Melania Trump self-sponsored herself for a green card in 2000 “as a model of extraordinary ability” and obtained the green card in 2001.

That was different from what he reportedly told Univision just a month before, when he said she had earned her green card in 2001 “based on marriage.” The problem was that Melania Trump appears to never have been married before marrying Trump in 2005.

When Univision pointed this out, Wildes clammed up and said: “There are certain parts of the process that remain private. The immigration authorities don’t discuss this, nor should we.”

3. Einstein visa for “extraordinary ability.”

The claim to “extraordinary ability” itself, though, has raised questions. Melania Trump generally did advertisements and catalogues – not exactly the stuff of internationally renowned supermodels.

Immigration attorneys have repeatedly suggested that it seems unlikely she would have qualified for such a rare visa.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the eligibility criteria for the EB-1 includes professors, researchers, multi-national managers and executives, and those with “extraordinary ability,” which requires applicants to provide evidence of a one-time achievement such as a Pulitzer Prize or Olympic medal, or show that they have met 3 of the 10 listed criteria including “published material about you in professional or major trade publications or other major media” and “performance of a leading or critical role in distinguished organizations.”

4. Working before she was authorized to work.

The Associated Press reported just days before the 2016 election that Melania Trump had been paid more than $20,000 for 10 modeling jobs in 1996 before obtaining legal permission to work in the United States. The work came in the brief period she was on a visitor visa but before she obtained a work visa on Oct. 18, 1996.

It is considered fraud to say you intend only to visit the United States but instead intend to work, and this can retroactively harm your immigration status.

5. Her website falsely claimed a degree.

Speaking of things that could imperil one’s immigration status, Melania Trump’s Republican National Convention bio and a bio on her modeling website claimed she had “a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia.”

Since then many journalists who have written about her life have determined she dropped out after her first year to pursue modeling. If she claimed that degree while applying to immigrate – which, again, we do not know, because these questions have not been answered – that would be problematic.

In sum, there is a whole bunch of smoke here, and the Trump campaign and the White House have not done much to fan it away. Given that Donald Trump is firmly against chain migration and illegal immigration, it might be good to clear some things up.

meet the author

Nicole Hickman James is a lifelong Democrat and political activist who first cut her teeth as a teenager volunteering for Mike Dukakis’ presidential campaign. She has worked and volunteered for John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, HFA (Hillary For America), and Organizing For Action. She’s passionate about liberal and progressive causes and considers President Obama her favorite president ever. She holds her Bachelor’s from Boston College in Economics and her Master's from Columbia, also in Economics. When not working as a writer, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her three college-aged children.

Comments

Comments are currently closed.