Melania Trump said Monday that she is “disappointed and
disheartened” by the deadly riot at the Capitol last week by
supporters of her husband. But in breaking her silence, she also
lashed out at people she said have used the tragic event to spread
“salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks and false and
misleading accusations about me.”
![image](/2020/10/lawreport.jpg")
The statement marked the first lady’s first public comment in
the five days since a violent mob of Trump supporters, angry over
Trump’s election loss and stirred up by the president himself,
stormed the Capitol on Wednesday and temporarily disrupted
proceedings certifying that Democrat Joe Biden will be the next
president come Jan. 20.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
“I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last
week,” she wrote in a White House blog post released before
sunrise. “I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events
there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and
false misleading accusations on me – from people who are looking to
be relevant and have an agenda.”
The first lady did not say who she was referring to. Last week,
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the first lady’s former friend and
one-time assistant at the White House, wrote an editorial accusing
Mrs. Trump of being “complicit in the destruction of America.”
Their friendship ended bitterly after Wolkoff, who had worked on
arranging festivities for Trump’s inauguration in 2017, said the
first lady failed to defend her after questions arose about
inaugural spending, now the subject of federal and congressional
investigations.
In the post Monday, the first lady said, “This time is solely
about healing our country and its citizens. It should not be used
for personal gain.”
“Our Nation must heal in a civil manner,” she wrote. “Make no
mistake about it, I absolutely condemn the violence that has
occurred on our Nation’s Capitol. Violence is never
acceptable.”
She also urged people to stop the violence, not judge people by
the color of their skin or “use differing political ideologies as a
basis for aggression and viciousness.” She made no comment about
her husband or his role in encouraging his supporters to go to the
Capitol.
The president has spent the weeks after losing the November
presidential contest spreading baseless claims that the balloting
was tainted by massive fraud and that the election was stolen from
him. Numerous state and federal officials, including former U.S.
Attorney General William Barr, said there was no evidence of fraud
on a scale massive enough to have affected the outcome.
Trump encouraged his supporters to flock to Washington last
Wednesday, the day set for Congress to certify the presidential
vote. After addressing a rally near the White House in which he
encouraged his supporters to keep fighting, they stormed the
Capitol.
Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died.
Melania Trump said Monday that she is “disappointed and
disheartened” by the deadly riot at the Capitol last week by
supporters of her husband. But in breaking her silence, she also
lashed out at people she said have used the tragic event to spread
“salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks and false and
misleading accusations about me.”
The statement marked the first lady’s first public comment in
the five days since a violent mob of Trump supporters, angry over
Trump’s election loss and stirred up by the president himself,
stormed the Capitol on Wednesday and temporarily disrupted
proceedings certifying that Democrat Joe Biden will be the next
president come Jan. 20.
“I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last
week,” she wrote in a White House blog post released before
sunrise. “I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events
there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and
false misleading accusations on me – from people who are looking to
be relevant and have an agenda.”
The first lady did not say who she was referring to. Last week,
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the first lady’s former friend and
one-time assistant at the White House, wrote an editorial accusing
Mrs. Trump of being “complicit in the destruction of America.”
Their friendship ended bitterly after Wolkoff, who had worked on
arranging festivities for Trump’s inauguration in 2017, said the
first lady failed to defend her after questions arose about
inaugural spending, now the subject of federal and congressional
investigations.
In the post Monday, the first lady said, “This time is solely
about healing our country and its citizens. It should not be used
for personal gain.”
“Our Nation must heal in a civil manner,” she wrote. “Make no
mistake about it, I absolutely condemn the violence that has
occurred on our Nation’s Capitol. Violence is never
acceptable.”
She also urged people to stop the violence, not judge people by
the color of their skin or “use differing political ideologies as a
basis for aggression and viciousness.” She made no comment about
her husband or his role in encouraging his supporters to go to the
Capitol.
The president has spent the weeks after losing the November
presidential contest spreading baseless claims that the balloting
was tainted by massive fraud and that the election was stolen from
him. Numerous state and federal officials, including former U.S.
Attorney General William Barr, said there was no evidence of fraud
on a scale massive enough to have affected the outcome.
Trump encouraged his supporters to flock to Washington last
Wednesday, the day set for Congress to certify the presidential
vote. After addressing a rally near the White House in which he
encouraged his supporters to keep fighting, they stormed the
Capitol.
Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died.