Melania Trump accuses Obamas of disrupting White House move

By 
 October 9, 2024

In her new memoir, Melania Trump shares fresh details about her experience moving into the White House and the unnecessary stress that was added by the outgoing Obama family.

The Former First Lady accused the outgoing president, and his wife Michelle, of ignoring "customary" requests to access the White House before the inauguration, leaving Melania with little time to renovate.

"Unfortunately my plans to begin preparing the residence before the inauguration were disrupted by protocols and politics," she wrote in Melania.

Obamas rocked by accusations

While normally, presidents' families receive the courtesy of an advance visit during the holidays, the Obamas did not uphold this norm, Melania said.

As a result, Melania was unable to redecorate until after her husband's inauguration in January 2017.

"I understand the importance of following tradition in this manner," she said. "Sadly our team did not receive the access we had requested to visit the White House residence in December."

"Despite reaching out to the Obamas' team and requesting a convenient time for our visit, we did not receive a response for weeks," she said.

"Outdated" style

At the time, Melania was preoccupied with finding a new school in Washington D.C. for her then 10-year-old son, Barron.

But the Obamas gave no response to Melania's requests for weeks, and when they finally answered, the information was "filled with errors."

"This delayed the planning process, and I was only able to begin renovations after the inauguration, once we were already in the White House," she said.

Melania said the White House was left in an "outdated" style, and Barron's room especially needed renovations.

"'The existing style was outdated or not to my taste,' she said. "Barron's room was a priority. He was the first young boy to live in the White House since John Kennedy Jr, and the children's bedrooms had been decorated for girls for sixty years, so it was important to create a space that suited Barron's interests."

Peaceful transfer?

Of course, it's no secret that the Obamas have never considered the Trumps to be legitimate occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Michelle Obama has been open about her emotional departure from the White House, saying she cried "uncontrollably" on the day of President Trump's inauguration.

“There were tears, there was that emotion. But then to sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display – there was no diversity, there was no color on that stage, there was no reflection of the broader sense of America,” Obama said on a podcast last year.

After taking the oath, President Trump spent the better half of his presidency battling a bogus "Russian collusion" investigation that was birthed in the final months of the Obama administration.

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