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Melania Trump has revealed that she once visited the White HouseSituation Room to watch a crucial anti-terror operation unfold – despite not having the proper security clearance.
In the former first lady’s new memoir Melania, which is due to hit shelves on Tuesday, she recounts the moment in autumn 2019 when her husband, then-president Donald Trump, summoned her to watch the pursuit of Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi play out.
“I was caught off guard when I received a call informing me that the president wanted to see me in the Oval Office,” she writes, according to The Daily Beast, which obtained an advance copy.
“I was directed to join him in the Situation Room – a first and unique experience for me.”
There, she joined the likes of Vice President Mike Pence, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper to witness the Delta Force operation as Trump whispered to her: “Watch this incredible action at work.”
Melania continues: “The mission to eliminate the leader of ISIS was a significant objective, and the successful completion of this operation would be a major accomplishment.
“This pivotal moment was one that Donald wanted to share with me.”
The chase to capture Al-Baghdadi took place in Syria, led by a heroic US military Belgian Malinois named Conan, she recalls.
During the crucial moment, Melania says she was asking the top brass around her questions. “Curious about the specifics, I inquired about the number of troops involved, and the details were explained to me,” she reveals.
Conan the dog, who was injured when the target detonated an explosive device in a tunnel, was later invited to the White House and presented with a special medal for bravery in November 2019.
The ceremony was presided over by Melania, her husband and Pence with the president memorably nervous and uncomfortable in the animal’s presence.
Trump later said of Al-Baghdadi: “He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place.”
Melania’s story has raised questions given she did not possess the same level of security clearance as those in the room.
While a first lady is entitled to view classified information at the discretion of the president, according to presidential historian Tim Naftali, the anecdote offers further insight into the informal and off-hand approach to security within Trump’s White House.
Christopher Miller, former acting defense secretary, alluded to the same incident in his own memoir Soldier Secretary in 2023, writing: “I wondered how it would play in the press if word got out that the first lady had popped in to watch a major military operation.”
Responding to Miller’s account at the time, MSNBC pundit and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki commented on Morning Joe: “No, this is not normal. I think it’s important to restate that as much as possible around Trump.”
Trump also previously faced criticism for requesting high-level clearance for his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Melania Trump’s new book has already been heavily trailed in advance of its publication, with the former first lady making headlines by breaking with her husband’s stance on abortion rights and discussing her nude modelling career in promo videos.
Other previews have featured her attacking the FBI over its raid on Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 in search of boxes of classified documents, remembering the birth of her son Barron Trump, denouncing alleged efforts to “silence” the former president and hinting at the prospect of a conspiracy at play in the first assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
