Melania Trump calls her husband’s survival after the attacks a miracle

NEW YORK (AP) – In her first interview in more than two years, former first lady Melania Trump said she considered her husband’s survival in two attempts on his life “miracles” and provided new details about the former president, including his willingness to have more children.

The Slovenian-born former model remains something of an enigma in the 2024 election cycle, remaining largely absent from the campaign trail, breaking norms by not speaking at the Republican National Convention and skipping key moments for her husband Donald Trump, including his evening victory parties and court appearances in New York and Florida.

In a pre-recorded interview aired Thursday morning on Fox News, Melania Trump called on Democrats and members of the media to stop branding her husband as a threat to democracy. She blamed the media for “fueling a toxic atmosphere” and empowering those who “want to harm him.” Democrats have previously blamed Trump for violent rhetoric, including helping incite the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“This is not normal,” she told “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt.

Melania Trump added: “Is it really shocking that all this blatant violence is directed against my husband? Especially as we hear opposition party leaders and the mainstream media branding him a threat to democracy and calling him terrible names?”

The former first lady added: “This has to stop.”

Melania Trump said an employee notified her about the shooting at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Earlier this month, Melania said she was in New York when she saw TV reports of a second assassination attempt at his golf course in Florida.

“I think something was watching over him,” she said of her husband, who survived both assassination attempts. “It’s almost like ‘the country really needs him.’

Melania Trump promotes her new memoir, which is scheduled to be released on October 8.

When asked if she had ever talked to her husband about expanding their family, she revealed that the Republican presidential candidate had tried to persuade her to have more children. “I’ve always gotten by with one,” she said. “And Donald encouraged us to have more. And I replied that I was perfectly fine with that because it was “a very busy life and I know how busy he is. And I am responsible for everything. That’s why it’s just perfect.”

The Slovenian native said the fashion industry has given her the “thick skin” necessary to withstand attacks as the wife of a president who is one of the most polarizing political figures in recent times.

“The fashion industry is glamorous, but at the same time very difficult,” she said. “Everyone is judging you, look at you” in a certain way, so it can be a mean world too. So nothing prepared me better for this world than fashion. It gives you a thick skin.” Melania also revealed that her son, Barron Trump, decided to continue living in their New York mansion while attending New York University.

“I can’t say I’m an empty nester. I don’t feel it,” she said. “It was his decision to come here, that he wanted to be in New York, study in New York and live in his house. And I respect that.”