Donald Trump Says This Particular Rumor About Melania Is 'Fake News'
"Fake news" is one of former President Donald Trump's favorite phrases. Any report that could be untrue or paint him in an unflattering way earns the description. Now, he insists that a rumor about his third wife, Melania Trump, falls under that category, and it has to do with that persistent belief that Donald is going to run for president a third time, in 2024.
Typically, when one-term presidents lose, they graciously concede and fade off into the background, but the attention-seeking Donald won't do that. Instead, he has insisted for more than a year that he really won the 2020 election, and he's also spent that time hinting that he'll throw his hat in the ring for the GOP presidential nomination again, with him at the top of the polls for any potential primary matchups (via FiveThirtyEight).
While Donald has yet to officially announce his candidacy, he held an October 2021 rally in Iowa, the state where the presidential primary season begins, which experts say is a big tell that he will be in the race (via NBC News). But how would Melania feel about Donald running again?
Donald Trump insists Melania Trump isn't against his running again
During a Dec. 2, 2021, interview with "Fox and Friends," host Brian Kilmeade asked Donald Trump if Melania Trump is against him running again and if she would refuse to move back to the White House, as rumored.
Donald shrugged off that notion quickly. "No, that's not true. More fake news," he said. "She was a great first lady, she did a great job. She loves the people, they love her. I see how they love her."
This seems to be the opposite sentiment of a CNN report that says the ultra-private former first lady wants to stay out of the spotlight. "Being first lady again is not what she wants," an anonymous source told the outlet. "For her, it was a chapter — and it's over, and that's that."
Even when Donald was first elected president, Melania didn't move to the White House until June, ostensibly to make sure her son, Barron, could finish the school year in New York. But The Washington Post reported that the real reason was that she wanted to renegotiate her prenuptial agreement before making the big move to D.C.