Melania Loses It as Trump’s Dark Past Surfaces

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2:18Ben Meiselas:Melania Trump's dark past is surfacing, but she wants everybody to know that Jeffrey Epstein did not introduce her to Donald Trump. Epstein had nothing to do with it. It was somebody by the name of Paolo Zampoli who made the introduction. And Melania Trump has been, through a lawyer, sending cease and desist letters and threatening any reporters who say that it was Jeffrey Epstein who introduced Melania to Donald Trump. And Melania doesn't make a lot of social media posts. But with regard to retractions that were issued by the Daily Beast and by others, she keeps on posting those over and over again, almost like trophies.

3:05Ben Meiselas:But I mean, here's the thing. She met Donald Trump at the Kit Kat Club by her own admission. Let's go to what her story is. She met Donald Trump at a place called the Kit Kat Club in 1998, which was part of these parties that were thrown by a guy named Paolo Zampoli, where he introduced young Eastern European woman who was part of his modeling agencies to wealthy men. I mean, that's the real story that is out there. And then, as we all know, Melania would do nude model suits. She said she was very proud of the nude work that she did recently. We know that in Russia, state regime, Russian media shows those photos of her quite frequently on their state regime media.

3:52Ben Meiselas:I'm not sure why they do that. You could make your own guesses, but here's what Melania posts. Daily Beast apologizes and retracts article alleging a Melania Trump Jeffrey Epstein link. But interestingly there, I mean, you see the photo she posts. It's of her, Donald Trump, Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell. I mean, the photograph is a real photo. They knew each other. I think she just wants to be clear. Epstein wasn't the person who made that introduction. Okay. Then there's this article from the New York Post. Pundit James Carville apologizes and pulls videos suggesting Melania Trump Epstein connection after Melania's lawyer sent a cease and desist letter there.

4:42Ben Meiselas:Why don't we just go through the facts? First, let's look at Melania's own biography that she had to take down many years ago. So you look at Melania's biography and here's what it says. Melania Trump biography. Born on April 26, 1970 in Slovenia, Melania Naus began her modeling career at the age of 16. At the age of 18, she signed with a modeling agency in Milan. After obtaining a degree in design and architecture in the University of Slovenia, Melania was jetting between photo shoots in Paris and Milan, finally settling in New York in 1996. Okay, that's her story. But then she had to remove that because it appears she did not graduate from any architecture school at all, that she was a dropout from school.

5:37Ben Meiselas:I mean, which by the way, at the end of the day, people have their own paths. But there seems to be a lack of transparency there. She never earned a degree in architecture. She dropped out of college after her freshman year, according to her biographers. Still, she claimed to have that degree from the University of Slovenia. The Slovenian journalist Pozar and Omerza wrote in their biography on her that she became and remained a college dropout after leaving a local university's architecture school following her first year. She attended lectures on the following subjects, elements of architecture, fine arts, fundamentals of technical mechanics, architectural construction, descriptive geometry, mathematics, and ideological.

6:24Ben Meiselas:Read communist elective credit called general partisan resistance and social protection. Okay, could you imagine if another first lady had that class as her background, what Fox News would be saying? she would have made it to her sophomore year even if she didn't pass certain exams but she was supposed to have gotten a one-month internship but in any event it seems to say that she got this degree was an exaggeration putting it lightly she removed that from the website talking about how she met Donald Trump here's the guy right here Paulo Zampoli you see him He ran a modeling agency. He's always was a very close friend.

7:09Ben Meiselas:He started with the model agency, then had the models work in his real estate agency that he then created. And he stayed friends with Donald Trump and he became like an ambassador. Right now, he's an ambassador. But he was the one who made the introduction. And he secured Melania's visa to the United States and then introduced her to Donald Trump at the Kit Kat Club. His parties featured alligators, tiger cubs, and models at nightclubs blowing kisses at fashion television cameras. um so you know you know you you you have that there going looking through melania's background as well um other notable points i think to point out is just just take out her at her own word you know about the things that she said right when donald trump was found saying that he grabs women by their genitals and when you're rich they let you get away with it and melania was there defending it.

8:07Ben Meiselas:I mean, she said that's locker room talk and she said she's okay with it. So here's what she said about that. Here, play this clip. He described it as locker room talk to you. I mean, you sort of alluded to that as well. Is that what it is to you? Just locker room talk? Yeah, it's kind of two teenage boys. Actually, they should behave better, right? He was 59. Correct. And sometimes I said, I have two boys at home. I have my young son and I have my husband. But I know how some men talk and that's how I saw it. Yes. I mean, that's what she said about those statements. I mean, granted, I mean, yes, they're married, so she's come into his defense.

8:54Ben Meiselas:But I mean, locker room talk, that's not how men talk about things. That's not locker room talk. That's not okay. That's not normalized behavior. Given her background as well and the fact that she allegedly got an Einstein visa, I guess there are questions. What was the original visa that she got? How was she here in the first place? You know, I don't know that, you know, was it a was it a tourist visa? And then she was working on a tourist visa that then converted to an Einstein visa, which is for like super genius talents. How did she secure that visa? How did that happen? You know, there's there's there's a lot of questions there that I still think are outstanding.

9:37Donald Trump was supposed to hold a press conference about her background and about her

9:45Ben Meiselas:immigration status during the first time he ran for office. He said he was holding a press conference, what did he say, in two weeks, and he never ended up having the press conference. But here was Donald Trump saying he was holding the press conference that never ended up happening. Here play this clip. They said my wife Melania might have come in illegally. Can you believe that one? No, no, no. They said headlines. Maybe she came in illegally. Maybe. Let me tell you one thing. She has got it so documented. So she's going to have a little news conference over the next couple of weeks. That's good.

10:17That's good. I love it. I love it. They said Melania Trump may have come into our country illegally. And how would that be for Donald Trump to be talking? He's the only problem. She came in totally legally. I mean, you know, so I swear to that side. All right, but you'll see it in a little while. I said to her, no, no, let it simmer for a little while. Let them go wild, let it simmer, and then let's have a little news conference and have some fun. Typical children's vitamins are basically candy in disguise, filled with two teaspoons of sugar, unhealthy chemicals, and other gummy junk growing kids should never eat.

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12:33Ben Meiselas:And then as a reminder, Melania would then go on TV and she would, you know, say, we need to see Obama's birth certificate and Obama this, Obama that. Here's what Melania said about Obama. Play this clip. But what is this with the birth certificate obsession did he ask see yours when you met him well i needed to put mine anyway because if you want to become an american citizen you need to put the amer the birth certificate i have a birth certificate from slovenia and you don't do you want to see president obama birth certificate i've seen it i've seen it it's not the birth certificate well it's a certificate of live birth which they give but melania that if they if he insists on what he's saying then no one in hawaii can ever run for president because they all get the same live birth certificate well but they need to have is finished for example they need to have and in one way it will be very easy if president obama just show it and because it's not only it's not only donald who wants to see it it's american people who voted for him and who didn't vote it for him they want to see that but it's on display in Chicago.

13:43We've seen it on the internet. We've seen it. It's not the same as yours, but it's a certificate of live birth. We feel it's different than birth certificate. All right. Well, I think you should give it up at this point. Well, it's not him that he's bringing up. It's the media all the time, all the time. His points are really about bringing back the jobs.

14:05Ben Meiselas:Now let's not also forget that Melania plagiarized Michelle Obama's convention speech, almost word for word, bar for bar. She just took the convention speech. Here you can hear it for yourself. Let's play that right now for you. Here play it. The values that you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond. That you do what you say you're going to do. that you treat people with dignity and respect. And because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.

14:52Ben Meiselas:Recently, Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett brought up Melania, and here's what Congresswoman Crockett had to say. Play this clip. And since we're talking about integrity, I'm confused as to why my Republican colleagues aren't talking about the lack of integrity when it comes to the president's family's visas. Let me remind y 'all that Melania, the first lady, a model. And when I say model, I'm not talking about Tyra Banks, Cindy Crawford or Naomi Campbell level applied for and was given an EB1 visa. And what that stands for is an Einstein visa. Now, y 'all that don't know, let me tell you how you receive an Einstein visa.

15:30You're supposed to have some sort of significant achievement, like being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize or a Pulitzer, being an Olympic medalist, or having other sustained extraordinary abilities and success in sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics. Last time I checked, the First Lady had none of those accolades under her belt. It doesn't take an Einstein to see that the math ain't math in here.

15:54Ben Meiselas:And here's what one of Donald Trump's victims had to say about an interaction that she had when she was there with Trump and she saw Melania and what went down. Here, play this clip. My name is Natasha Stoynoff. In 2005, I went to interview Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. At one point, Melania went upstairs to change her clothes for the next photo shoot. And Trump said to me, I want to show you this beautiful painting, this beautiful room. He leads me to this room, pushing me against the wall, and starts kissing me forcefully. I tried to push him. He kept coming back at me. I was in shock and smothered, and he had his hands here against my shoulders.

16:31I felt sick inside. I felt horrified. And thank goodness, the butler charges into the room. Like many women, I blame myself. So Trump turned to me and said, you know we're going to have an affair, don't you? And Melania was approaching. I was horrified. When the Access Hollywood tape came out, and also stories of many other women, including E.J. Carroll, I realized I was not to blame, that he was just a predator of women. What could have happened if the bother had not come into the room? Donald Trump is an adjudicated sexual assaulter.

17:00Ben Meiselas:And then I should also note that Melania then got fast track citizenship with the Einstein visa, the super genius visa, or whatever they call it. Then through chain migration, she brought her family into the United States. Again, these are all policies that Donald Trump is against and goes after others for doing. And so, you know, I mean, she's out there going after the Daily Beast and she's out there going after other people. And she's saying, let me be clear, it was not Epstein who made the introduction. So issue retractions there. Okay. It was Paolo Zampoli. It was a modeling agency run by Paolo Zampoli at the Kit Kat Club.

17:43And that's how the

17:47Ben Meiselas:introduction went down. I think that a lot more disclosure was needed. Trump promised two weeks there would be a press conference. It never happened. But I think if you believe in transparency, it should be addressed, especially in light of all of the issues that Donald Trump is having right now and him covering up his dark past. So let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million things for watching.

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