Former first lady Melania Trump invoked the “cancel culture” catch-all defense Friday in response to reports that she was under investigation in Florida for raising money for what appeared to be a charitable organization called Foster the Future that isn’t registered in the Sunshine State.
A news release posted online Friday on Trump’s behalf claimed that Foster the Future is the name of a platform that falls under the auspices of the Be Best initiative she introduced in 2018. According to the statement attributed to the 45th president’s wife, money from an event was supposed to go to a computer science school in Oklahoma that backed out of the arrangement and will now be dispersed elsewhere.
“The media has created a narrative whereby I am trying to act in an illegal or unethical manner,” Trump’s posting said. “That portrayal is simply untrue and adversely affects the children I hope to support. Those who attack my initiatives and create the appearance of impropriety are quite literally dream killers. They have canceled the hopes and dreams of children by trying to cancel me.”
That statement is topped with an insignia very closely mirroring the seal of the president of the Unites States.
In December 2019 then-president Donald Trump paid a $2 million settlement to cover damages tied to the Trump Foundation’s use of charitable funds for political means. That agreement also required the Trump Foundation be dissolved and that its founder’s children, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump, undergo training in connection with operating charities.
Melania Trump said in her statement that she is not operating a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, but will continue working with the Milwaukee-based Bradley Impact Fund to decide who benefits from her fundraising efforts. The 51-year-old Slovenia native says it’s her ongoing intention to help foster children.
“I will continue to support our children and do whatever it takes, remaining positive in the face of negativity,” the statement ended.
