This is such a weird story. What do we really know about Melania Trump, especially when it comes to her severely lacking FLOTUS work? We know she’s lazy. We know she does very few political/campaign appearances. We know she loves clothes. We know she’s petty AF, especially when it comes to beefing with Ivanka Trump. We know she loves to dress up in colonialist costumes. Well, add something else to the list of what we know: her small East Wing office staff will totally try to throw their weight around the West Wing to get someone fired on Trump’s National Security Council. And of course the beef is completely petty, something about a plane seat, lies and Melania’s trip to Africa?
A feud with the first lady’s office is expected to cost a senior national security adviser her job after she sparred with East Wing staff and other key members of the Trump administration. The dispute spilled into public view in extraordinary fashion on Tuesday when the first lady’s office released a statement calling for deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel’s ouster as reports surfaced that President Donald Trump would fire the official. A White House official confirmed to CNN that Trump has told people that Ricardel will be fired. But the official said she has been given some time to clear out her desk. It was not immediately clear when she would officially make her exit.
“It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that (Ricardel) no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House,” the first lady’s communications director Stephanie Grisham said in a statement on Tuesday. The statement amounted to a stunning public rebuke by a first lady of a senior official serving in her husband’s administration. It came after reports surfaced earlier Tuesday indicating Ricardel would be pushed out of her post after less than seven months on the job.
Reflecting the fast-moving nature of the events, soon after a Wall Street Journal report surfaced Tuesday afternoon alleging Ricardel was fired and escorted off the White House grounds, a senior White House official denied the story to reporters. The official said Ricardel was still in her office Tuesday afternoon. The official declined to speculate further about Ricardel’s future in the administration.
Her departure would leave national security adviser John Bolton without one of his key allies in the administration, a deputy who has also shared his penchant for bureaucratic infighting. It was those sharp elbows that sources said led to the first lady’s stinging statement, with Ricardel most recently feuding with members of the first lady’s staff over her trip to Africa. One person familiar with the matter said Ricardel quarreled with the first lady’s staff over seating on the plane and use of National Security Council resources. A White House official accused Ricardel of being dishonest about the feud and subsequently leaking stories to try to cover her behavior.
[From CNN]
“One person familiar with the matter said Ricardel quarreled with the first lady’s staff over seating on the plane and use of National Security Council resources…” Wait, what? Was Ricardel the national-security adviser tasked with traveling to Africa with Melania’s people, and did the beef stem from that? Was it just about a plane seat? What’s with Melania wanting to use National Security Council resources? This is so confusing. Anyway, remember the time Michelle Obama publicly scolded a member of her husband’s national security team and publicly encouraged her husband to fire that person? Oh, wait, that never happened! WTF is up with Melania’s office, and how pissed is Melania going to be if Trump doesn’t fire Ricardel?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Source: Read Full Article