The former first lady wrote in her new memoir that she attempted to “get with Melania’s weather-only program” by expressing sympathy for “the military dogs" they drove by in the January cold
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NEED TO KNOW
- In her new memoir published this week, former first lady Jill Biden detailed an awkward car ride on Inauguration Day 2025 with incoming first lady Melania Trump
- Melania dodged questions about her son, Barron, in favor of small talk about the weather, according to Jill
- Jill wrote in the second-to-last chapter of A View from the East Wing that Melania and her had spent very little time together prior to their mandatory interaction
In her new memoir published this week, former first lady Jill Biden detailed an awkward car ride on Inauguration Day 2025, claiming that incoming first lady Melania Trump ducked a range of questions asked in the vehicle and instead tried limiting conversation to small talk about the weather.
While first ladies and presidents have previously shared private moments with their successors and predecessors in spite of political animosity, Jill wrote in the second-to-last chapter of A View from the East Wing that Melania and her had spent very little time together over the years.
Jill said the Jan. 20, 2025, limo ride from the White House to the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol was the first time they had considerably interacted in close quarters, not counting their brief encounters at funerals for former first lady Rosalyn Carter in 2023 and former President Jimmy Carter just days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration.
“The presidents’ car was likely frosty too, but at least they’d spent considerable time in each other’s company,” Jill wrote, according to The Independent. “This would be one of few interactions Melania and I had ever had.”
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Joining the first ladies in the car as a buffer was John Bessler, husband of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Democrat who chaired the 2025 inaugural committee. Jill joked that the lawyer and University of Baltimore law professor, whose wife is now running for governor of Minnesota, “must have drawn the shortest of all possible straws” when he got assigned the gig.
Bessler attempted “to figure out how to break the tension and find some path to relative peace in the course of that drive,” Jill wrote in her memoir.
The first ladies’ chaperone attempted to ask Melania where then-18-year-old Barron was attending college, according to Jill. Melania’s response was allegedly brief: “NYU.”
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The incoming first lady also at one point said that Barron had his own floor in Trump Tower and was escorted to and from class by Secret Service, according to Newsweek, adding that he didn’t have many friends yet at the college he began attending the previous fall.
“Melania kept trying to switch the topic to the weather,” Jill claimed, writing that she attempted to “get with Melania’s weather-only program” by expressing sympathy for “the military dogs we passed along the route because of the cold,” according to Vanity Fair. Temperatures in Washington were below freezing that day.
Bessler then asked if the Trumps had a dog, but Melania said they didn’t have one, though she said she “asked Barron several times, but he said no, he didn't want a dog.”
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Melania did speak briefly about her father after Jill asked how he was doing following the death of Melania’s mother, according to the memoir.
“She said he was doing okay, and he was there with them, then said, ‘But you know, it’s only been a year,’ ” Jill wrote.
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Jill said she had sympathy for Melania, chalking up some of the animosity she perceived to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in 2022 in connection with the investigation into her husband’s handling of classified documents after leaving office.
“Melania blamed Joe personally for the FBI searching through her private spaces at Mar-a-Lago,” Jill wrote.
“I have compassion for her, having been subject to the same kind of search,” she added, referring to the 2023 search of the Bidens’ Wilmington, Del., home for documents. “I knew how distressing it was to have agents rummage through your underwear drawer."
PEOPLE attempted to reach Melania's office and Bessler for comment about Jill's claims in her new book, which was released on Tuesday, June 2.
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Melania notably declined to invite Jill for a conversation about the White House transition after her husband lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 election and cast doubt on the results. Days after the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, the Trumps shirked longstanding tradition by skipping Joe's inauguration and instead leaving the city for their Mar-a-Lago estate that morning.
When Donald won a second term in 2024, the Bidens attempted to revive some normalcy by inviting him and Melania to the White House for a transition meeting. Though Donald traveled to Washington to meet with Joe, Melania declined Jill's invitation and stayed back. In the absence of a face to face meeting, Jill reportedly sent Donald home with a handwritten letter to Melania expressing that she was happy to help make the process smooth.
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