It is believed that Melania Trump shunned an invitation from Dr. Jill Biden for a post-election meeting at the White House later this week since the feud between the incoming and outgoing first ladies still rumbles on. In the most recent months, the former first lady has re-entered the political spotlight caused by the release of her self-titled memoir, “Melania.”
Even if she still avoided joining her husband Donald Trump on the campaign trail, a smiling Melania showed up next to the the president’s side, sweeping to victory on Election Night. Despite her openness to engage with the world of politics once more, sources declared to CNN that Melania is set to skip the traditional first lady meeting.
The sources showed that the snub was due to an upcoming scheduling conflict caused by her New York Times-bestselling book.
This takes place four years after the Trumps declined to invite the Bidens to a very similar White House meeting during the transition period between presidents, right after the GOP candidate decried election interference.
Trump’s team tried to convince Melania to come to reconsider, especially since they deemed the meeting quite important. One insider even told the network that her decision hadn’t yet been finalized.
Another source gave a completely different reason for Melania’s predicted absence. It is believed she held grievances over the FBI’s raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, back in August 2022, as part of the federal classified documents case, which was dropped in July.
“She had no plans to go,” the unnamed source declared to the New York Post. “Jill Biden’s husband authorized the FBI snooping through her underwear drawer. The Bidens are disgusting. Jill Biden isn’t someone Melania wants to meet.”
Another source told The Daily Mail that “Mrs Trump isn’t going,” adding that Melania and Jill Biden didn’t speak at all.
The Independent contacted the White House and Trump’s spokespeople for additional information.
In line with this tradition, Jill extended the olive branch to Melania only last week, inviting the 54-year-old American-Slovenian model to join her at the White House at 11 am on Wednesday, November 13.
President Joe Biden also invited Trump to the Oval Office, as a symbolic move to have a “smooth” and “peaceful” transition of government. Trump accepted the invitation, and the meeting took place on Wednesday, only a week after Trump defeated the Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 race.
The Bidens’ invitations took place after the Trumps refused to follow tradition back in 2020. Trump did not invite Biden to Washington in 2020 after the Democrat clinched the presidency, and Melania didn’t reach out to Jill, either. The Trumps also refused to attend the inauguration ceremony.
The Trumps launched a pair of meme coins ahead of the inauguration, raising ethical concerns
The first couple “spontaneously” launched a pair of meme coins in the leadup to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. To no one’s surprise, the coins are already worth billions of dollars on paper. However, the timing of the Trump cryptocurrency launch, a couple of days before taking office and promising to be one of the most crypto-friendly presidents, alarmed many ethics experts and even some representatives of the crypto industry.
Melania Trump launched her own cryptocurrency, “$MELANIA” in a social media post on Sunday, sending her husband’s cryptocurrency “$TRUMP” in a downward trend. Meme coins are a certain type of highly volatile cryptocurrency, inspired by popular internet or cultural trends. However, they don’t carry any intrinsic value.
But they do possess a heart-stopping capacity to soar or equally plummet in price. “My NEW Official Trump MEME is HERE!” Trump wrote on X Friday.” It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.”
Both coins are trading on the Solana blockchain. Trump’s meme coin skyrocketed over the weekend and was trading at over $70 by Sunday afternoon, according to CoinGecko. Even so, the president-elect’s coin nosedived to $40, right after Melania revealed her own coin.
Ever since then, it has recovered some of those losses and was also trading around $60 early Monday. $MELANIA was trading at over $12 early Monday, according to CoinGekco. $TRUMP is probably the first cryptocurrency endorsed by the incoming president, who once adopted another “crypto” stance, promising America to become the “crypto capital of the planet.”
Back in July 2024, Trump addressed crypto’s largest convention. Ever since, he has appointed Howard Lutnick, who’s a firm supporter of the cryptocurrency company Tether, to run the US Commerce Department. Lutnik is one of the many crypto enthusiasts who are appointed in Trump’s new administration.
Ethics concerns
Now, Trump will not only rule over how the federal government decides to regulate crypto but he can also personally cash in on the outcome. “It is quite dangerous to have the people who are supposed to oversee regulating financial instruments investing in them at the same time.” Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, declared to CNN. “There’s really no precedent for a head of state to launch a personal cryptocurrency.”
Painter, who was also the top ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush Administration, also explained that the launch of these meme coins only a few hours before the inauguration opened a new discussion regarding serious ethical questions about conflicts of interest.
“The coin’s value can be highly influenced by his actions or the policies he adopts once in office, especially as Trump has said he will be more crypto-friendly, which will more than likely inflate the coin’s value at least temporarily.”
Even if executive branch employees need to follow conflict of interest criminal statutes that would prevent them from participating in matters impacting their own financial interests, the law still doesn’t apply to the president nor to the vice president.
Trump’s coin was announced on Friday, the final business day before the resignation of Gary Gensler, the outgoing chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and also an arduous enemy of the crypto industry. Trump vowed to replace Gensler, announcing in November he would step down at noon on Inauguration Day.
Walter Shaub, the ethics watchdog who clashed with Trump during his first term right before stepping down, shared his two (alarming) cents about Trump’s second term. “America voted for corruption, and that’s exactly what Trump delivers.” Shaub told CNN in an email.
“Trump’s corruption and naked profiteering is wide open, extreme, and pervasive this time around, so much that commenting on any one aspect of it would mean losing the forest for the trees. The idea of government ethics is now a smoldering crater.”
California Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat, declared in another recent post on X that elected officials “need to be barred from having meme coins by law.” He described them as “highly speculative and similar to gambling.”
The Trump transition team didn’t respond right away to a request for comment. Also, earlier this month, the Trump Organization declared that Trump won’t be involved in managing his real estate or branding empire during his first term in office.
He will also be appointed an outside ethics monitor to keep a close eye on company actions. Previous presidents have taken more serious steps to avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of self-dealing, including placing their businesses in a blind trust.
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