Melania Trump launches new office on Twitter after being accused of spending all her time in spa

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Gustaf Kilander
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Donald Trump, left, and US First Lady Melania Trump, arrive to a farewell ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on 20 January 2021 ((EPA))
Donald Trump, left, and US First Lady Melania Trump, arrive to a farewell ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on 20 January 2021 ((EPA))

Melania Trump has used her Twitter account to launch her new office after being accused of spending all her time in the Mar-A-Lago spa.

It was reported in late January that Ms Trump was establishing a post-White House office and that she was aiming to maintain her "Be Best" campaign from her time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"Be Best" focused on children's health, stopping social media bullying, and the impact of the opioid crisis on children.

The first tweet from the official account of the former First Lady said: "Mrs Melania Trump is announcing the opening of The Office of Melania Trump. Please follow this account for news and updates."

The new Twitter account comes after reporting alleges that Ms Trump is spending a lot of time in the spa and that she was annoyed at the attention received by her successor Jill Biden.

“She goes to the spa, has lunch, goes to the spa (again), and has dinner with Donald on the patio. Rinse and repeat. Every day,” a source close to Ms Trump told CNN.

Read more: Follow live updates on Mr Trump’s second impeachment trial

The former First Lady’s schedule is “pretty much the same as it was before (she was First Lady) or even when she would come down during vacations,” a source told CNN about Ms Trump’s activities at Mar-a-Lago.

While in the White House, weeks could pass between events that focused on the “Be Best” campaign. The East Wing of the White House, where the First Lady has her suite of offices, was not fully staffed, with its policy office at most having one full-time staffer, and it was sometimes entirely empty, CNN reported.

Three of Ms Trump’s White House staffers will join her in her post-East Wing ventures. Hayley D’Antuono was the former First Lady’s director of operations and trip supervisor and is now her chief of staff.

Mary Casey Finzer, a former staff assistant in the East Wing, is now working on operations and administration for Ms Trump.

Marcia Kelly was an unpaid senior advisor for Ms Trump in the White House and is also joining the post-presidency team.

The office of the former First Lady is still working out of Mar-A-Lago, the former President’s private club, but they’re looking for separate office space in Palm Beach, Florida, according to CNN.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser and friend to Melania Trump, recently suggested that she may have more recordings, in addition to those already published, to back up statements she made about the former First Lady in her memoir, Melania & Me.

Ms Wolkoff wrote about disagreements that Ms Trump had with her husband, as well as a tense rivalry with his the former President’s daughter Ivanka.

The author said that the stories were based on secret recordings she made of Ms Trump during her time working in the East Wing and Ms Wolkoff released several of the tapes while promoting her book.

Ms Wolkoff claimed that she had more recordings to share after the Department of Justice dropped a lawsuit against her Monday, in which she had been accused of breaking a non-disclosure agreement with her tell-all book about her relationship with Ms Trump.

Read More

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