On Monday, both CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt conducted sit-down interviews with Melania Trump at Trump Tower in New York. The pair of interviews are the first for Mrs. Trump since audio of her husband bragging about sexually assaulting women in 2005 to Billy Bush was heard by every man, woman, and child in America.
“Those words, they were offensive to me and they were inappropriate,” Melania revealed to Cooper in a clip. “And he apologized to me. And I expect — I accept his apology. And we are moving on.” She also stated, “I — this is not the man that I know. This is — we could see, as I always said, as my husband said, as well, for a successful businessman, entrepreneur, entertainer to achieving so much in his life, being in so many shows, so many tapes, it’s very hard to run for public office.” She also suggests that Billy Bush “egged” Trump on during their conversation.
Now, according to teased clips of her interview with Fox News, Mrs. Trump is defending her husband’s counter-attack on the Clintons. In recent weeks, the Republican presidential nominee has upped the ante on his opponent’s husband, attempting to link the former president with Bill Cosby, and showing up to the second presidential debate alongside a handful of women who say he assaulted them.
“Is it fair for the media to bring up Bill Clinton’s past or for Donald Trump to bring up Bill Clinton’s past?” Earhardt asked Mrs. Trump. “Well, if they bring up my past, why not?” she responded.
“So they — they’re asking for it?” Earhardt followed up. The hopeful first lady replied:
“They’re asking for it. They started. They started the — from the beginning of the campaign putting my picture from modeling days. That was my modeling days and I’m proud what I did. I worked very hard.”
Melania Trump’s interview with Anderson Cooper will air Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on CNN. Her interview with Ainsley Earhardt will air Tuesday morning during Fox & Friends on Fox News. Earhardt will also appear on The Five Monday night at 5 p.m. ET to preview her interview.
Here’s a glimpse of the scenery we’ll see during the interviews.
Guess who I am about to interview? @foxandfriends #Election2016 @FoxNews #Interview pic.twitter.com/nAhFiwpE8V
— Ainsley Earhardt (@ainsleyearhardt) October 17, 2016