A New Unauthorized Biography on Melania Trump

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, look, what is her value added in terms of the public figure and in terms of her influence on President Trump? And what does she want? What does she want in life, in her marriage, in politics? Because, as you say, you know, love her or hate her, depending on what you think of her husband. And more to the point, she is a bit of a sphynx. So, it’s maybe not even love her or hate her but just try to figure out who she is.

MARY JORDAN, AUTHOR, “THE ART OF HER DEAL”: Try to figure her out, right. You know, I think she’s consequential. You know, we write about who the defense secretary is and who different people in the cabinet is. Well, it turns out — you know, I’ve talked to over 100 people that she’s the one who, if you want to be hired at the White House and you don’t want to get fired, you have to be on Melania’s side. You know, she was critical in this election of Mike Pence during the campaign as the vice president. And he (INAUDIBLE) an interesting reason, it came down to three candidates, Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey, Newt Gingrich, former house speaker and Mike Pence from Indiana. She met for two days with the Pences, and Trump asked her to do that because he trusts her. He says all these other people have different agendas, but not Melania. So he (INAUDIBLE) personal decisions. And she said to him after looking at who could be the number two for him, she said, you know, pick Pence, because he’s not that ambitious as the other two. He’ll be content to be number two. The others will be gunning for your job. And, you know, we all know that Donald Trump doesn’t do co-stars. And so, he took that advice.

AMANPOUR: It’s really interesting, too, because it makes you ask, you know, is that also a self-reflection? Is she that ambitious or is she, you know, the person who, you know, finds herself in a situation, you know, goes along with it and it meets her needs? And I ask you this because one of the big reveals, obviously, is answering what the whole world wanted to know when President Trump was inaugurated, started out in the White House, and she didn’t join until June, that’s about five or six months later. And the whole world thought it was because her son, Baron, had to finish his school year in New York. But you say no, it’s because she was candidly reupping her prenup.

JORDAN: Well, it was also very handy for Baron. So, that was part of it. But the big news there was that, you know, Trump famously says he’s the best negotiator. No one can make a better deal than I can. He said that over and over again. And he said, you know, it’s all about leverage.