Former adviser claims

Trump marriage was just a “business transaction”

For Donald Trump and his wife Melania, the wedding was a "win-win situation" for both of them. Both he and she have benefited professionally from the marriage.(Bild: APA/AFP/JIM WATSON)

Donald and Melania both benefited from the marriage, a former adviser to the former first lady now explains.

Not a good start to the week for Donald Trump. It's bad enough that, according to new polls, fewer undecided voters want to vote for him because of his "guilty" verdict than previously assumed. Now his wife's former adviser is following up with a shock claim.

Marriage a "business transaction"
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff writes on X that Donald's marriage to Melania was just a "business transaction" that benefited both of them.

In her post, Winston Wolkoff added a video clip from the sixth season of Trump's reality show "The Apprentice". In it, Melania plays the dutiful mom to baby Barron, while Donald is portrayed as a caring father.

Melania on the "Vogue" cover, Trump no longer a playboy
Winston Wolkoff writes about the real reason for the marriage: "Trump needed a wife who had the right looks, could play her part well and let him be the star." The marriage had become a "win-win situation" that helped the couple "legitimize each other".

She elaborated on this further on CNN: By marrying a billionaire, Melania had "finally become the 'Vogue cover' model she always wanted to be." Trump had benefited from the marriage by being able to combat his image as a playboy.

In another tweet, Winston Wolkoff then writes that the couple only got into the White House at all because of the show "The Apprentice". She also quotes the book "Apprentice in Wonderland" by Ramin Setoodeh: "He writes that Trump himself admitted that he would probably never have become president without the show."

"If you love someone ..."
At the beginning of June, Winston Wolkoff made fun of the claim made by Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche. He had told the press that Melania's continued absence from her husband's trial "should not be seen as evidence that she doesn't love him or support him as a husband".

During the trial against Trump, Melania was not present in court even once.(Bild: AFP)

The former White House staffer then tweeted: "If you truly love and support someone, you stand by them no ifs, ands or buts. Then you don't care about the optics."