Melania Trump recounts the incident with her now-famous "I really don't care, do u?" jacket in her forthcoming memoir, which will be released on October 8. She asserts that her then-press secretary refused to allow her to clarify the significance of the costume choice.
“I was determined … not to let the media’s false narratives affect my mission to help the children and families at the border. In fact, I decided to let them know that their criticism would never stop me from doing what I feel is right. To make the point, I wore a particular jacket as I boarded the plane, a jacket that quickly became famous,” the 54-year-old ex-first lady reportedly wrote in the book, according to The Guardian.
Stephanie Grisham, her press secretary then, was “flooded with urgent emails from top-tier media outlets regarding the jacket.”
“It’s a message for the media,’ I said, ‘to let them know I was unconcerned with their opinions of me’ [but] she told me I couldn’t say that. ‘Why not? It is the truth,'" Melania said. While touring a migrant detention center at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018, Melania donned the controversial Zara jacket.
Melania thought she could say that, despite her objections, OK! Magazine reported. She informed a friendly CNN reporter that the jacket was just a fashion choice without any hidden meaning, ignoring her comments.
Melania stated in the book that the exhibition was more important than the “importance of the children, the border, and the policy change.” She was “just another example of the media’s irresponsible behavior.”
In the meantime, Stephanie gave her account of events in her book "I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in the Trump White House," in which she said that Donald Trump sought to change the subject.
During a "damage control session" upon their return from Washington, D.C., Trump allegedly said, "You just tell them you were talking to the f-------press."
Stephanie has been an outspoken critic of Trump ever since she left her position as chief of staff to Melania in 2021.
According to Stephanie's earlier statement this year, Donald is aware that he is intentionally spewing garbage most of the time.
“He’s not a crackpot. He’s actually a very smart man. I mean, he was president of the United States. We have to give them a modicum of credit for that,” she reported in January when speaking with Jim Acosta of CNN.
“But no, he knows he’s lying. He used to tell me when I was press secretary, ‘Go out there and say this.’ And if it was false, he would say, ‘It doesn’t matter, Stephanie. Just say it over and over and over again, people will believe it.’ He knows his base believes in him. He knows he can basically say anything and his base will believe what he’s saying,” she carried on with her narration.
