Former First Lady Melania Trump has reportedly refused First Lady Jill Biden’s offer for the customary White House tea meeting. Insider sources suggest that Trump’s refusal is linked to the FBI’s 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago.
This decision veers away from the historical practice of incoming and outgoing first ladies meeting at the White House during presidential transitions.
Despite President-elect Donald Trump’s meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office on Wednesday, November 13, for the standard post-election meeting, Melania Trump did not join the coinciding first lady tradition.
A source close to Melania Trump has revealed strong sentiments about the decision, alluding to the FBI’s search of her personal items during the 2022 raid of their Palm Beach, Florida property. The source insinuated that the refusal of the former First Lady was directly influenced by the Biden administration’s authorization of the FBI search.
During a previous interview on “Fox & Friends” in September, Melania Trump had voiced her discontent regarding the Mar-a-Lago raid, labeling the incident as an “invasion of privacy”. “I saw unpleasant stuff that nobody wants to see,” she stated, mentioning that FBI agents had gone through her clothing and searched her son Barron’s rooms.
The current and former first families have notably deviated from tradition. After the 2020 election, the Trumps did not extend an invitation to the Bidens to the White House, a break from decades of presidential transition norms. This is in stark contrast to Melania Trump’s own experience in 2016, when she was given a tour of the White House by then-First Lady Michelle Obama.
The search at Mar-a-Lago, which has led to the present strain, was part of a federal investigation into the management of confidential White House documents. However, the case was later dismissed by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, in July.
