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Scoop: Former Melania Trump Friend and Adviser Taped First Lady Disparaging Trump and His Adult Children, Sources Say

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend of Melania Trump who helped produce the 2017 presidential inauguration, taped the first lady making disparaging remarks about the president and his adult children, according to two sources. Wolkoff plans on sharing the first lady’s comments about the Trump family in her forthcoming book, “Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady,” which will be published by Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books on Sept. 1.

The news that Wolkoff is planning to reveal the first lady’s comments about the Trump family comes days after The Washington Post reported that the president’s older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, was taped by her niece Mary Trump saying that she believed her brother had no principles and couldn’t be trusted.

It’s unclear what exactly Wolkoff is alleging that the first lady said about the president and his adult children, but two sources familiar with the contents of “Melania and Me” confirmed that she reveals the details in her book, including harsh comments about Ivanka Trump, the president’s elder daughter and a senior adviser. It’s also unclear if Wolkoff reveals in the book that she taped her conversations with the first lady, but I’m told by sources that the published comments are based on audiotapes.

Mary Trump, the president’s niece, based some of her book on audiotapes, but she didn’t reveal that in “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” instead sharing the tapes with The Washington Post after the publication questioned some of what she alleged in the book about the president.

A spokesperson for Simon & Schuster did not reply to my email by the time I published this edition of my newsletter.

Wolkoff was friends with the first lady for more than a decade before Trump ran for president and was director of special events at Vogue. For about a decade, she helped plan the Met Gala, the legendary fashion event held every year to benefit New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute; the gala is organized by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

Wolkoff had a falling out with the first lady after a series of stories revealed the inaugural committee’s excess spending. According to sources, she says in the book that she was a scapegoat for the controversy (and the subsequent federal investigation).

From the description of Wolkoff’s book:

After Trump won the 2016 election, Wolkoff was recruited to help produce the 58th Presidential Inauguration and to become the First Lady’s trusted advisor. Melania put Wolkoff in charge of hiring her staff, organizing her events, helping her write speeches, and creating her debut initiatives. Then it all fell apart when she was made the scapegoat for inauguration finance irregularities. Melania could have defended her innocent friend and confidant, but she stood by her man, knowing full well who was really to blame. The betrayal nearly destroyed Wolkoff.

In this candid and emotional memoir, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff takes you into Trump Tower and the White House to tell the funny, thrilling, and heartbreaking story of her intimate friendship with one of the most famous women in the world, a woman few people truly understand.

How did Melania react to the Access Hollywood tape and her husband’s affair with Stormy Daniels? Does she get along well with Ivanka? Why did she wear that jacket with “I really don’t care, do u?” printed on the back? Is Melania happy being First Lady? And what really happened with the inauguration’s funding of $107 million? Wolkoff has some ideas...

This is a developing story, check back here for updates.

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