Although allegedly “annoyed” at the FBI search on Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, Melania Trump has instead concentrated her attention on selling and promoting NFTs (non fungible tokens), a report says.
While former US president Donald Trump melts down over an impending legal battle with the US Justice Department, Ms Trump had expressed less concern about the turn of events, CNN reported on Wednesday.
“She cared, but not like he cared”, a source familiar with Ms Trump said of the search on Mar-a-Lago on 8 August, when FBI agents allegedly looked through her belongings.
Mr Trump, in comparison, wrote on Truth Social in the days afterwards: “Just learned that agents went through the First Lady’s closets and rummaged through her clothing and personal items. Surprisingly, left area in a relative mess. Wow!”
In the weeks since, Ms Trump has released no public statement condemning the FBI and Justice Department’s search into classified documents found in Florida, which sources told CNN she viewed as an invasion of privacy and nothing more.
“She’s private, and she’s protective of her son and her home,” a source said. “She would never allow him (Mr Trump) to keep his stuff in her room, and he would frankly never ask”.
“Why would she say anything?” another person added of Ms Tump’s famously restrained communications strategy. “Her thinking is, if she’s quiet, it will just go away”.
All of Ms Trump’s recent Twitter posts have been retweets of an NFT account called “USA memorabilia”, who follows only two accounts – both belonging to Ms Trump, although it remains unclear if she has a formal relationship with the digital token seller.
The report said the promotion of “USA memorabilia”, which sells digital tokens with a Trump presidential theme, was a sign of Ms Trump wanting to establish her own business profile in the wake of leaving the White House and the FBI and Justice Department investigation.
CNN noted that former first ladies are not entitled to the same financial benefits as former presidents after leaving the White House and upon the death of their husband receive a yearly pension of $20,000.
“I would imagine as the wife and mother of his child, she must be worried (about the future),” a source who reportedly has known Ms Trump for many years said. “She might at least be a little worried about how her own life will change.”
Since the announcement of a venture into the world of NFTs in December last year, Ms Trump has been accused of selling her first NFT to herself in an auction in January, during which a digital painting of the former first lady sold for $185,000. A claim her office has denied.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department said classified documents the FBI took from Mar-a-Lago were “likely concealed and removed” in order to obstruct a federal investigation into the removal of White House files, by Mr Trump, who claims he declassified the files.
The department said the 8 August search came only after previous attempts to retrieve the files failed and suspicions that further documents remained unlawfully at the Florida estate. An investigation continues.
The Independent has approached Ms Trump for comment.
