Melania Trump's former friend — who once said she was 'thrown under the bus' by the White House — is publishing a tell-all about the first lady
BILLY FARRELL/Patrick McMullan via Getty
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend and adviser to first lady Melania Trump, plans to publish a book about their relationship, Vanity Fair and The Daily Beast reported.
"Melania and Me: My Years as Confidant, Advisor and Friend to the First Lady" is due out September 1.
It is the latest in a string of books written by former Trump family associates that Simon & Schuster is publishing.
The White House is grappling with yet another potentially damaging memoir, this time written by a former close friend and adviser to first lady Melania Trump.
The New York City socialite Stephanie Winston Wolkoff's "Melania and Me: My Years as Confidant, Advisor and Friend to the First Lady" is due out on September 1, according to Vanity Fair and The Daily Beast.
It's being published by Simon & Schuster, the publishing house behind a string of recent books from former Trump associates like John Bolton and Mary Trump, the president's niece.
People familiar with the book told The Daily Beast that it is largely negative and paints the first lady in a bad light.
"In her memoir, Wolkoff chronicles her journey from their friendship that started in New York to her role as the First Lady's trusted advisor to her abrupt and very public departure, to life after Washington, being an advocate for children's and women's causes," a description of the book obtained by Vanity Fair says.
Erin Scott/Reuters
'Was I thrown under the bus? Yes'
Wolkoff, who takes her maiden name from her stepfather, the son of jeweler Harry Winston, worked as an event planner for Vogue before she helped the Trump campaign plan the 2017 inauguration. After the inauguration, she joined the first lady's office as an unpaid adviser, according to The New York Times.
But Wolkoff left the East Wing in 2018 amid controversy about the inaugural committee's spending.
Wolkoff left the situation upset at how she was let go, telling The Times a year later that the reports over lavish spending and that she was pushed out were false.
"Was I fired? No," Wolkoff said at the time, according to The Times. "Did I personally receive $26 million or $1.6 million? No. Was I thrown under the bus? Yes."
According to last year's Times report, Wolkoff has been cooperating with investigators looking into how the Trump inaugural committee raised money for the event.
Trump lawyers are likely to fight to stop the book's publishing because Wolkoff signed a nondisclosure agreement when she agreed to work on the inauguration, which she confirmed to The Times last year.
The White House and people adjacent to it have used NDAs to halt upcoming books in the past.
Earlier this month, the president's brother Robert Trump invoked the NDA signed by his niece Mary Trump to get a temporary injunction against her tell-all book about their family.
While Mary Trump is continuing to fight to get that injunction against herself lifted — which bars her from speaking about the book — the book itself has been cleared for publishing because the injunction against Simon & Schuster was lifted.
The publishing house has since bumped up publication by two weeks, from July 28 to July 14.
Read the original article on Business Insider
