Hillary Clinton says Melania Trump reminded her of “somewhat child” when she got here face-to-face with the man former first woman for the primary time after dropping the 2016 White Home race.
The encounter, Clinton recalled in her newest guide, “One thing Misplaced, One thing Gained,” got here final 12 months at a memorial service for Rosalynn Carter.
“Rosalynn’s grandson Jason mentioned it had been her want that each one the First Girls would come collectively for her memorial in a present of unity in these divisive instances,” Clinton wrote within the guide, which was launched Tuesday.
“If anyone on the White Home or on Invoice’s or my Secret Service element had been briefed on Mrs. Trump’s plan to attend, they didn’t inform me,” Clinton, 76, wrote within the guide.
“Now, right here she was, standing alone as Laura [Bush], who’d appeared to be chatting with Melania when the remainder of us walked in, stepped away to say her hellos,” Clinton recalled.
“Melania had a glance on her face – very smiley however unsure – that jogged my memory of the little child on the celebration who doesn’t know anybody and is ready on the fringe of the circle, hoping individuals are going to be good,” the previous secretary of State mentioned.
“We have been. All of us went as much as her,” Clinton mentioned of the group of former first girls, together with President Biden.
“Jill air-kissed her cheek, and Michelle Obama gave her considered one of her signature huge hugs,” Clinton recalled.
“[Former President Clinton] tried to make dialog, asking her how she was, however he was met with a smile and few phrases. I reached out, shook her hand, and mentioned, ‘Hiya, Melania, it’s good to see you.’”
“I can respect how awkward it will need to have been, not understanding what sort of reception she would get in any case her husband’s insults directed at us Bushes, Bidens, Obamas, and Clintons alike,” the previous New York senator mentioned.
Clinton wrote in “One thing Misplaced, One thing Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty” that she “by no means fairly knew what to make of the third Mrs. Trump” and located herself “conflicted” by her.
“On a intestine degree, I’ve by no means believed {that a} spouse bears duty for the actions of her husband. However did she help and abet her husband’s worst instincts?”
“Was she quietly complicit in his bigotry and hate-mongering?” Clinton wrote, earlier than referencing a headline-making and controversial clothes merchandise Melania Trump wore whereas touring to Texas in 2018 to go to a migrant youngster detention middle.
Trump’s “army-green jacket with ‘I actually don’t care. Do u?’ boldly scrawled” on the again “certain appeared on model for Donald Trump,” Clinton wrote.
“As for Melania Trump, I’ll follow my very own edict of not passing judgement on one other lady’s look. We get an excessive amount of of that already.”
Clinton mentioned she attended Donald Trump’s 2005 nuptials to Melania at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida “out of curiosity.”
“I used to be going to be in Florida anyway and thought it will be entertaining to see what a Donald Trump wedding ceremony was like. It was the primary time I met Melania, and I simply do not forget that she was younger, very lovely, and really tall,” Clinton mentioned of the now 54-year-old former mannequin.
“And that she didn’t speak a lot, not less than to me.”
A spokesperson for Melania Trump didn’t instantly return ITK’s request for remark.
Clinton knocked information protection of the memorial service, which she described as suggesting a “feminine rivalry” between the group of first girls primarily based on their physique language.
Some media retailers, Clinton mentioned, by no means stopped “to contemplate that maybe the 5 of us First Girls didn’t enter the sanctuary all smiley and sociable, like we have been strolling right into a chick-flick matinee, as a result of, you already know, we have been at a funeral.”
However Clinton additionally defended the previous president’s partner at one level in her memoir, when critics known as Melania Trump’s choice to eschew a standard black outfit and as a substitute sport a grey coat on the funeral in Atlanta “distasteful and gross.”
“Let’s get actual. The Victorian-era custom of donning black for funerals has gone the best way of the edict towards carrying white after Labor Day. Jason Carter wore a grey go well with to ship a tribute to his ‘cool grandma.’ President Biden was in blue. So far as I can inform, neither of them received any flak for it,” Clinton mentioned.
“Was I actually feeling some sympathy for Melania Trump after all of the ugliness and turmoil the Trump household had heaped on the nation, the world, and my circle of relatives the previous a number of years? I gained’t go that far,” Clinton mentioned.
“However for my part, what Melania wore to pay tribute to Rosalynn (who herself was pointedly vital proper again on the Trumps) was completely applicable, and I used to be sorry that Melania received slammed for one thing so petty.”
Up to date at 11:53 a.m. EDT
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