麻豆传媒

TORONTO -- A former senior adviser to Melania Trump says she secretly taped conversations with the first lady because she needed to collect 鈥渆vidence鈥� as their personal friendship and professional relationship unravelled, and she plans to release private text messages and other insights in a new book.

鈥淚t is disgraceful in any other context, but who would believe any of this otherwise? You couldn鈥檛 make this up,鈥� Stephanie Winston Wolkoff told MSNBC in an interview Tuesday evening.

Among the most scathing claims by Winston Wolkoff is that she and the first lady communicated about official White House business over private email.

The first lady is not technically employed by the federal government, and is therefore not governed by the same law that restricts the use of personal email for government business. However, during the 2016 presidential race, then-candidate Donald Trump slammed Hillary Clinton for her use of private emails as U.S. secretary of state as he encouraged chants from his supporters to 鈥渓ock her up.鈥�

鈥淚 think the Trumps are the Trumps and they do whatever they want to do, and they go by their own rules,鈥� Winston Wolkoff told CNN on Wednesday morning regarding the emails. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate, but oh my God, I don鈥檛 think they look at themselves in the mirror and actually see what the rest of the world sees.鈥�

Winston Wolkoff鈥檚 allegations come ahead of the release of her new book, 鈥淢elania and Me,鈥� which recounts their friendship in detail, including quotes from the first lady. The book also delves deeper into the U.S. president鈥檚 US$107-million inauguration in 2017 鈥� the most expensive ever. Winston Wolkoff, whose firm was paid $26 million to plan the inauguration, claims she was thrown under the bus after the event鈥檚 extravagant price tag became public.

鈥淢elania and the White House had accused me of criminal activity, had publicly shamed and fired me and made me their scapegoat. At that moment in time, that鈥檚 when I pressed record. She was no longer my friend, and she was willing to let them take me down, and she told me herself that this is the way it has to be,鈥� she told MSNBC.

鈥淪o I was going to do anything in my power to make sure that I was protected, and at first I did think that maybe she would come to my aid, maybe she would tell the truth. She turned her back, she did. She folded like a deck of cards, and I was shocked when she did it.鈥�

DONALD AND MELANIA IN PRIVATE

Winston Wolkoff, a former director of special events for Vogue magazine, said she was occasionally invited to dinner with the Trump family.

"I have to tell you, some of those really intimate times around the dining room table, even the first day after the inaugural I had went over to the White House with the family, it鈥檚 very personal,鈥� she said.

The dynamic between the president and the first lady is unique to anyone else in the family, Winston Wolkoff said.

鈥淭hey joke with one another, but she鈥檚 very honest with him, and that鈥檚 what separates Melania from anyone else in that home.鈥�

But Melania鈥檚 relationship with Ivanka Trump is tense, Winston Wolkoff said, because Ivanka often oversteps her boundaries.

鈥淢elania called her princess, we called her princess. (Ivanka) really is a princess who wanted to be queen, and she broke all the rules to get there. Rules don鈥檛 apply to her,鈥� she said.

鈥淚vanka usurped Melania in every way that she possibly could, and its unfortunate because as the first lady of the United States you expect to go into the White House and have some form of assistance as well as budgets as well as access.

Like I keep saying, it was like banging my head against the wall. Ivanka really wanted to control her place in the administration.鈥�

One-on-one, Winston Wolkoff said she and Melania shared something special.

鈥淭here was a quality about Melania that she didn鈥檛 share with anybody else. There was a special friendship that we shared amongst ourselves. It was only the two of us. I hadn鈥檛 really spent time with Donald,鈥� she said.

鈥淪he was like that older, confident, coiffed sister that nothing was ever a big deal. For me, I wear my heart on my sleeve and everything is chaos and I鈥檓 a mess 鈥� I am who I am. She just kept it chill. She was teflon, almost.鈥�

THE JACKET CONTROVERSY

One of the first lady鈥檚 most controversial moments over the last four years came after she visited migrant children who鈥檇 been detained at the U.S. border with Mexico and wore a jacket with the words 鈥淚 really don鈥檛 care, do u?鈥� across the back. At the time, her spokesperson denied any 鈥渉idden message鈥� in the outfit.

Winston Wolkoff offered a different take: the first lady wanted to send a clear message of defiance to the media, but that message ended up becoming 鈥渃onvoluted.鈥�

"She did not feel the press would cover a good deed. She felt the press only wanted to cover something that was damaging to the administration,鈥� Winston Wolkoff said.

鈥淭hat jacket was really the first representation of Melania going on her own, and her office saying, 鈥業t鈥檚 just a jacket.鈥� It鈥檚 anything but just a jacket. The reality is, she wore it to get attention.鈥�

The real message the first lady was trying to convey, Winston Wolkoff said, was that she didn鈥檛 care what liberals or conservatives thought about her decision to visit the border.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 care what anybody says. I鈥檓 doing the right thing and I鈥檓 going to the border. That鈥檚 the messaging. Because I do think deep in her heart, that was there, but it got so convoluted.鈥�

The first lady鈥檚 spokesperson has previously told CNN that Winston Wolkoff鈥檚 book is 鈥渘ot only wildly self-aggrandizing, it's just not truthful,鈥� and suggested that she inflated her friendship with the first lady and 鈥渧ery brief role鈥� in the White House.

Asked whether she鈥檚 willing to release tapes of her private conversations with the first lady, Winston Wolkoff told MSNBC that she鈥檚 already played them privately for an upcoming 鈥渞eport鈥� and is willing to do whatever it takes to prove that she鈥檚 telling the truth.

鈥淭he more they continue to come after me, and the more they continue to lie about what they鈥檝e said and done and do, the more I will continue to prove their claims false. The last thing they should be doing is coming after me.鈥濃��