US First Lady Melania Trump has been accused of renegotiating the financial aspect of her pre-nuptial agreement with US President Donald Trump while delaying her move to the White House in 2017. The explosive claim is made in a soon-to-be-released book titled The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump.
Melania delayed the move to the official residence of the US President for almost six months after Trump took the oath as President. The book authored by Mary Jordan, a reporter with Washington Post, is based on interviews with more than 100 people in five countries.
Melania Altered the Pre-Nup to Take Care of Son Barron
Trump, who had three children from his earlier marriages, married Melania, a model at that time, in 2005. Together they have a son named Barron. The book claims that Melania wanted 'to take care of Barron' and ensure that her son would not be shut out of the family business, by renegotiating the financial aspects of the pre-nup.
"She wanted proof in writing that when it came to financial opportunities and inheritance, Barron would be treated as more of an equal to Trump's oldest three children," Jordan wrote in the book, as reported by CNN.
A strong believer of pre-nups as a way of protecting one's wealth, Trump during an interview with CNN had said: "I'm a big pre-nup believer, even though they're nasty terrible documents. I'm a big believer in that stuff."
According to the Daily Mail, the book reported that Melania's original marital agreement with Trump was not financially generous. But Melania used the fact she had been married to Trump longer than either of his two previous wives, plus her ability to calm Trump, to negotiate an agreement 'more to her liking.' "She is ... much more like him than it appears,' Jordan wrote in the book.
Melania Trashes the Book and its Claims as Baseless
The book further states that apart from renegotiating pre-nuptial agreement, Melania also delayed her move to the White House after she learned about Trump's marital infidelities through multiple media reports. She needed time to 'cool off', said the author.
The excerpts from the 286-page book were published in The Washington Post on Friday. The book is due for a release on Tuesday.
In a statement issued to Daily Mail trashing the book as a work of fiction, Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's chief of staff, called the story totally false. "Yet another book about Mrs. Trump with false information and sources. This book belongs in the fiction genre."
Following her move to the White House in June 2017, along with her son Barron, Melania had tweeted: "Looking forward to the memories we'll make in our new home! #Movingday." The tweet also included a photo of a view of the Truman Balcony from inside the White House.
Book Claims Melania Lied About Her Age, Plastic Surgery
Jordan further described Melania as focused, ruthless and ambitious - leaving friends behind once she had moved on to a new portion of her life, whether that was a modeling career that led her from Milan to New York City or her marriage to the business mogul that took her to the White House. She 'would seize an opportunity and put great effort into it. Then she would move on and never look back,' the outlet quoted the author.
The book also revealed that Melania has lied about her age and undergoing plastic surgery. "Melania wouldn't correct reports that got her age wrong and 'three photographers who worked with her said they've seen the scars' from plastic surgery, the book notes.
The outlet further reported that Melania's delay in moving to the White House from her three-story apartment in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, in New York, for almost six months, cost more than $20 million to protect the First lady.
