Melania Trump, the former and new first lady, said in an interview aired Monday that she plans to live and work full-time in the White House during Donald J. Trump’s second term, addressing speculation about whether she will be a regular presence in Washington.
Mrs. Trump told “Fox and Friends” that she will travel as needed to New York, her longtime home where she regularly stayed during Mr. Trump’s first term, and his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which has become Official Mr. Trump’s state of residence.
“When I’m supposed to be in New York, I’m going to be in New York,” she said. “When I’m supposed to be in Palm Beach, I’m going to be in Palm Beach. But my first priority is, you know, being a mom, being the first lady, being a wife.”
Mrs. Trump offered some hints about her likely role in the second Trump White House. She said she would continue her “Be Your Best” campaign, a program focused on youth mental health issues and social media use, and said she was still hiring for her office — people she said would not have “their own agenda.”
Mrs. Trump did not immediately move into the White House when her husband was inaugurated in 2017, but said a second move-in would be more routine.
“This time I have everything,” she said. “I have plans. I could move in. I already packed. I’ve already picked out, you know, the furniture to go in.”
The Fox interview came as Mrs. Trump raised her public profile after largely disappearing from view following Mr. Trump’s 2020 defeat.
Mrs. Trump released a series of videos this fall, ahead of the release of her memoir, “Melania.” Amazon said earlier this month that its streaming service would release a documentary about Mrs. Trump’s life, which began filming in December. Mrs. Trump will executive produce the film, which is slated to hit theaters and streaming services in the second half of the year.
“I just feel like maybe people didn’t buy into me,” Mrs. Trump told Fox. “They didn’t understand me the way they might understand me now. And I didn’t have a lot of support.”
Some people, she said, may have seen her as “just the wife of the president.”
“But I stand on my own two feet, independent,” she added. “I have my thoughts. I have my yes and no. I don’t always agree with what my husband says or does. And that’s okay.”
Asked whether President Biden and Jill Biden, the first lady, were welcome during the transition, Mrs. Trump avoided saying whether she had communicated with them.
“They’re still living there and they’re coming out on January 20,” she said. There are only five hours until the Bidens move out and the Trumps are in, she said, “so everything needs to be planned down to the minute.”
