Back in July of 2018, Melania Trump made big waves by wearing a jacket that read “I really don’t care. Do u?” on the back as she headed to visit a detention facility in Texas for immigrant children who had been separated from their parents at the border. Melania’s former aide and, apparently, confidante, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, went on CNN Thursday to provide some context for that incident, and Melania’s real feelings about the the issue of caging immigrant children in detention facilities.
Wolkoff spoke to Anderson Cooper to promote her new book, “Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady.” And Wolkoff brought recordings of phone conversations she had with Melania in July of 2018 about that incident with the jacket, and Melania’s frustration with the media in general over questions about those children who were being incarcerated by the government.
You can watch the entire segment below.
“The jacket was… a publicity stunt, and it was to garner the attention of the press, to make sure that everyone was aware that Melania was going to the border.”
Melania Trump’s former friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, on the infamous “I really don’t care. Do U?” jacket. pic.twitter.com/sCJAAAcvBf
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) October 2, 2020
“I’m working like a– my ass off at Christmas stuff that you know, who gives a f— about Christmas stuff and decoration?,” you can hear Melania say in the clip. “But I need to do it, right? Correct?”
She continued: “OK, and then I do it. And I say that I’m working on Christmas and planning for the Christmas. And they said, ‘Ooh what about the children that they were separated? ‘ Give me a f***ing break. Where they were saying anything when Obama did that?”
At the time, the First Lady’s spokesperson Stephanie Graham said, “There was no hidden message. After today’s important visit to Texas, I hope this isn’t what the media is going to choose to focus on.” But apparently that was not true.
In the recording, we hear Wolkoff ask Melania Trump about why she wore the jacket.
“I’m driving liberals crazy, that’s for sure,” Melania said. “And they deserve it. You understand? And everybody’s like, ‘Oh my god, this is the worst, this is the worst.’ I mean come on. They are crazy, OK?”