Melania Cornered on Stealing Credit From Pope
The first lady gave a cryptic, three-word response when asked about visiting Ukraine amid a growing dispute over who really brokered a ceasefire.
Melania Trump is considering a trip to war-torn Ukraine after triumphantly announcing on Friday that she had personally brokered a localized ceasefire in the country.
After Melania and her husband, President Donald Trump, cast their votes in the midterm elections at a West Palm Beach, Florida, polling location on Saturday near their Mar-a-Lago home, the first lady was asked whether she planned to visit Ukraine.
“We will see,” she replied cryptically, before quickly turning around and leaving the venue.
“It could happen,” the president added as he followed close behind his wife.
"It could happen," Trump said of his wife taking a trip to war-torn Ukraine following the ceasefire she claims to have brokered.
Umit Bektas/REUTERS
Melania ignited a firestorm Friday after the White House credited her with single-handedly securing a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, in the city of Oleshky.
The ceasefire is intended to allow evacuations and the delivery of vital supplies to the city, whose residents have endured food shortages and disease after years of war.
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Despite the great fanfare Melania’s statement generated inside the administration, outside the White House she was quickly slammed and accused of trying to steal credit from Pope Leo.
The cancer-stricken pontiff had called Russian President Vladimir Putin to request a ceasefire in Oleshky one week before Melania announced her own deal.
The pope made the call from his hospital bed, where he was recovering from surgery following a lung cancer diagnosis.
Melania’s top adviser, Marc Beckman, appeared to brush aside the pope’s earlier intervention, insisting the achievement belonged to the first lady alone.
“Yesterday she brokered—single-handedly brokered—a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine within the area of Oleshky,” Beckman told Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday.
In fact, according to Beckman, it was Melania who inspired the pope to get involved in the cause—not the other way around.
The president is also sticking by his wife’s account of how the negotiations went down, claiming to reporters that she is “doing better than the professionals right now.”
“It is great to have [the] pope’s support,” Melania added.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the first lady’s office for comment.
Melania was cryptic when asked about possible plans to visit Ukraine.
Umit Bektas/REUTERS
Vatican officials, including Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, have maintained that the ceasefire was indeed the pope’s initiative, contradicting the Trumps’ version of events.
Ukrainian official Davyd Arakhamia thanked both Melania and Pope Leo for their efforts in achieving the localized ceasefire, describing it as the culmination of a long process involving all sides.
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