Justice Department Alleges Former Melania Trump Adviser Broke NDA With Book

Topline

The Department of Justice on Tuesday filed a complaint in federal court against Stefanie Winston Wolkoff, a former aide to First Lady Melania Trump alleging she violated a non-disclosure agreement by publishing a tell-all book about her former friend and boss as part of a broader effort by the administration to tamp down on disparaging information from former officials.

Key Facts

Key Background

Before her work in the East Wing, Wolkoff was a fashion executive and friend of Melania Trump, describing her as “the sister I never had before.” She became an unpaid adviser to the first lady shortly into the Trump presidency in 2017. The White House cut ties with her after it was revealed her firm was paid nearly $26 million to help plan President Trump’s inauguration, for which she was compensated more than $1.6 million.

Crucial Quote

“Her selfishness is so deep, it enables her to keep her distance from the rest of the world,” Wolkoff wrote of the first lady in the book.

Tangent

Perhaps the most explosive revelations brought by Wolkoff were not in her book, but in tapes of phone calls with the first lady she played on CNN in September in which the first lady complained about Christmas and dismissed family separations at the border. “Give me a f—-ing break,” Melania can be heard saying of child asylum seekers being held in detention centers after being separated from their parents. She also lamented being tasked with redecorating the White House for Christmas, exclaiming “who gives a f—- about Christmas stuff?”

Surprising Fact

Wolkoff is not the only former Trump administration currently under siege from the Department of Justice for publishing a tell-all book. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton had a criminal investigation opened into his book, ‘The Room Where It Happened,’ which the administration sought to block based on allegations it contained classified national security information. They also stepped in to defend Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by rape accuser E. Jean Carroll.