First Lady Melania Trump was criticized after she used an event at the White House with freed Israeli hostages to promote her new documentary Melania, which follows her in the 20 days leading up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration following the 2024 presidential election.
Amazon MGM paid $40 million for the distribution rights and reportedly poured another $35 million into marketing. The film beat box office predictions to earn more than $7 million over the weekend but will need to generate much more box office to break even.
The film has widely been viewed as a goodwill payment to President Donald Trump and his family as Amazon shores up its lucrative government contracts. MAGA bots have nonetheless come out in full force with enough gushing reviews to give the film a near-perfect audience score on the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.
While meeting with former Hamas hostages Aviva and Keith Siegel to discuss their experiences in captivity, Mrs. Trump told the press that she and Aviva Siegel had a meeting in January 2025, which was “captured on camera and available to see” in her film.
She said:
“It was [an] emotional meeting, and it is captured on camera and available to see in my new film, Melania. It was very emotional."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
When questioned as to why she felt it appropriate to promote her film during the event, she said:
"This is not promotion. We are here celebrating the release of the hostages, of Aviva and Keith. They were in Washington, DC, and they called me. They said they would like to come over to thank me and to give hugs. That’s why we are here. It’s nothing to do with promotion.”
You can hear what she said in the video below.
But no one was buying it.
If there's one thing the Trumps know how to do best, it's grift.
@GregAbbott_TX/X
