BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Melania Trump reveals what cameras captured

Welcome back. First lady of the United States, Melania Trump, has her upcoming documentary premiering tonight at the Trump Kennedy Center, and it will be in theaters nationwide tomorrow. Tickets on sale right now. I sat down with the first lady yesterday at Trump Tower in New York City to talk about the film and her time at the White House. Watch. So happy to be talking with our first lady right now. Melania, thanks very much for sitting down with us. Thank you. Congratulations on this film. What did you want to communicate to the public through this film? Well, as everyone knows, I'm very private and selective person. I want to show the people my 20 days in my life, all the planning for inauguration, my business, my family, my philanthropy, everything what I need to do from private citizen to the first lady. So you directed the creative, right? I mean, did it do that? Do you feel that it tells everyone about those 20 days and all of those things, your business, your family, your background, philanthropy? Yes, of course, because, you know, the cameras were there from morning till night, 20 busy days, and they capture it all a lot and all of it, really. They followed me and I was the lead producer on it. And also after post-production in the studio, so I was very involved with it. People can see what a person who becomes a first lady needs to do, what she's involved in and how serious a job is. This is also incredibly lucrative deal. This is the highest paid documentary ever. How did you negotiate such a deal? When I had an idea, I approached my agent and he went out and bid to many streamers and Amazon was the best one, because what I wanted to do is to put the product, the film, into the theaters. Very cinematic product that will be available now in, what, two days, yeah, two days. People will see it, will see fashion, they will listen incredible music that I picked for every scene. I wanted to set up a mood. And also I got a special score for that movie, my original score, that it's called Melania's Waltz. Wow, and where does that original score come from? It's specially made for the movie. How wonderful. So this is a broader, in addition to the behind the scenes of The 20 Days, you also launched a production company, Muse Productions, and I found that really interesting. What kind of content or productions do you want to put out there from Muse Productions? Well, this is the first one, and I'm looking forward to, I have many ideas and looking forward to do something more. We are still in production of the docu-series that will come, part of Those 20 Days. The scenes that you will not see in the movie, so that will come later on. But, you know, I have so many ideas and I'm sure it will be in the future something that people will see. Well, I mean, your book, your entire journey, You Never Sold Those Rights, that should be its own movie. That's a fascinating story. Are you planning to produce that in film? I don't know yet, maybe. That was my life story from my childhood to coming to America, become American citizen, end up in the White House, the first term, and later on when we finished it. So it's a great book, and it was number one for a long, long time. Incredible story. Melania, I want to talk about some of your great achievements in this first year back in the White House. First, how is this term different than the last term? How would you compare? I'm very action-oriented. And the first year, we had a great success in my office. I have a great team, and in the East Wing office, we work well together, and great advisors. So we achieved a lot. We started with Take It Down Act, that it was written in law. Now, all of—everybody in America needs to follow the images that they have put online, and they are not the right images that the children want to see, dangerous. They need to take it down. And children was your priority in the first term, as well. You had the Be Best campaign. You continued that a little here. I want to hear about that. But in addition to the Take It Down Act, you led the executive order on fostering the future. You launched the presidential artificial intelligence challenge. You did a Zoom with schools across the country. With 2,000 schools. Yes. 2,000 schools were on that Zoom. Yes. Tell me why AI for children was so important to you. And tell me about that Zoom. How did you get 2,000 schools on the Zoom? I work with Zoom company, with the president of Zoom, and we reached out, and we said what we want to do. I think AI is developing so fast, and we need to keep up with it, and also be very vigilant, because we cannot still look at the machine and believe everything. But it's really helpful what we can do. We could achieve so much, and it's really incredible where we could use it in health, in fashion, in technology, everywhere. And it's a great product, and it's a great system that you could learn from. Because there are a lot of risks, as well, and worries that we don't know what's real and what isn't real with regard to AI. That's why you need to be very vigilant and careful, because you could see a lot of, in the social media, especially, that it's AI, and people will believe it. You need to check it. You also did the $25 million for housing supports in the president's fiscal year, 26 budget. That was from children transitioning from foster care, right? Correct. Yeah. Tell me about that. It will go to fostering the future foster children that they are fostering out of the homes, and they go on their own, and they're provided with their own living space. I saw the first video of a young lady coming to her apartment, and it was so emotional. It's very important that all of these children, when they transition from foster care, they're on their own. They have nowhere to go, nobody to turn to. And to give them a home, it's something that they could be on their own, and they could have life and be on their own two feet and take care of themselves. Well, it's wonderful that you focused on children so much. My probably most important story in that regard was the reunification efforts that you led for children in Ukraine and Russia. You sent Vladimir Putin a note. Did he get back to you? Tell me about that. He did. He wrote a letter back to me. My representative is in contact with them, and we are still working, reuniting more children. I hope soon we will have a great success again. It's great to see all these children, and parents especially, so happy, of course. You want to be with your child. I saw one part of the film where you tell the president, be a unifier. We have such division in this country. What do you want him to do in terms of be a unifier? How can he unite the country? You've been able to, because you've got fans on both sides of the aisle. You're one of the most popular people in the entire administration. So what should the president learn from you? Well, I give him my advice, and we talk about that, and we could see that the country is divided, and it's very hard, no matter what he says. They don't like to listen. What's going on in our country now, I feel that it's a lot of pushback, and I hope it stops. I think he's doing a fantastic job. He had a great success, and he's a unifier. He's positive thinking, forward thinking. He wants to put this country in the order that everybody can live here freely, not in danger. He would like to have a country that all of the people can walk down the street and not to be harassed or murdered or women raped. I think it's very important, and what happened a few years ago, so many criminals came over the border, and he closed the border now, a while back already, and we need to take care of our citizens. But it's you who've been the mentor for so many people. What do you want to accomplish in the next three years before this term is up? As I said before, I'm very mission-oriented, and I'm working on another legislative for fostering the future. So that is my plan. And just moving forward, fostering the future together with other world leaders, I'm working on that as well. So we will have a big summit in the White House at the end of March. So it's a lot of going on, a lot of projects that I'm working on. Well, you've also taken a leadership role in terms of other first ladies across the world, right? I know that you've welcomed them to the White House to try to effect change. Right. In September, at United Nations, I established Fostering the Future Together coalition worldwide. So that will be the event and the summit in the White House. I want to impact the American lives. I'm working every day, and that is my mission. And you can impact everyone by what you do and what you find as prioritized. So tell us about your priorities. My priorities are being a mother first. My family is always first. It always was. It always will be. And being a first lady, it's a full-time job. I'm enjoying it, and I want to focus on be best and fostering the future. And in the future, I guess it's technology that will be changing our lives so much. How can you effect change there? Tell us about the future. We need to educate people regarding technology and how positive it can be and how negative it can be, especially children who are starting to use technology and to be there for them and guide them. We need to be there to be their teacher and to support them at what they're doing and showing them what is right and what is wrong. So what does that mean on a practical level? Do you think that we need more schooling in terms of teaching in AI and tech? Correct. We need to have more teachers that they know how to teach children and how to use AI and moving forward with technology. I have a few quotes of yours, and you say, I don't need to be loud to be effective. I believe in grace under pressure. Tell me more. I feel sometimes that loud, it doesn't mean that you accomplish a lot. It's important what you have to say. And sometimes when you true to yourself and listen yourself and speak when it's important and not performing for the cameras, I think that's the best work. How does it feel being first lady for the second time around? It's quite extraordinary. It is. It's incredible. Yeah, it feels fantastic. It's very different because you already know how the politics work and what you can accomplish. But this time, it's very different than the first time. We have much more support. The first time, everything what you wanted to do, the answer was no, or they turned their backs. But this time, it's much more support. And you've also managed your family, raising Barron, and you've got your father. Tell us about that, the challenge of being the first lady of the greatest country in the world. Everyone's pulling at you, but you also have your priority of your family. It's very important. You need to be there for a child nonstop, especially when they need you, especially at that age that Barron is. He's an incredible young man. We are very proud of him. Second year in Stern School of Business, and he loves it. And this time, it's very different because he's 19 years old. And first time, he was 10 years old. He understands politics. He gives advice to his father. We talk about it, so very different. And you're a businesswoman. You just did an incredible deal with Amazon. I remember when you were very focused on the collectibles. Where does that stand? Are you still in business in terms of things like that? Yeah, it's still there. Collectibles are still there for fans who want to buy it. MelaniaTrump.com is still there. And I started that when I was outside of the White House, and now it's still continuing, and other people are helping me with that. So I don't spend too much time on it. So I could focus on the work as a first lady. So when you look ahead, where specifically do you want to make sure that you've made a mark? With those kind of things, like making children and young adults independent, helping them achieve their own dreams, because when you help them, they will one day be in the workforce. They will help their own communities. They will have families, and be on their own, and taking care of themselves. Melania, thank you. And thank you for your leadership. Thank you. Great to see you. You too. And our special thanks to the first lady, Melania Trump. Stay with us. We'll be right back.