Melania Trump Received $155,000 in 2021 From Donald Trump's Super PAC for a 'Speaking Engagement'

Former United States President Donald Trump's revised financial filings have disclosed that his super PAC reportedly paid his wife, Melania Trump, a whopping $155,000 in a December 2021 fundraiser. The payment was in regard to some "speaking engagement" of the former First Lady.

However, The New York Times reported that this payment was not mentioned in the PAC's initial federal reports. The disclosure form listed the December 2, 2021, payment as compensation for Melania's "speech" from the Make America Great Again, Again political action committee. This was Trump's leading super PAC connected to his political operations. 

Apparently, when Make American Great Again, Again publicly revealed its expenditures, Melania's name didn't appear on the super PAC's list. The 77-year-old President's personal financial disclosure revealed a massive sum of money in the name of Trump's wife. The payments were not "direct." 

Instead, the now-defunct political committee made two separate payments "indirectly" to Melania. The Independent reports that the amount had been "disguised" as a "pair of payments to Melania Trump's representatives at Designer's Management Agency." The first payment was $125,000, while the other was for $30,000, disbursed on December 2 and 3, 2021. 

The Federal Election Commission filing committee has categorized the payments as part of "event planning and consulting." A representative of the Super PAC who did not want to be identified by name revealed that Melania had been hired through her "design consulting" agency for an old Super PAC's dinner. 

Her responsibilities for the event included choosing tableware, arranging settings, and picking floral arrangements. So the listed payment was made to her agency for their services, and the actual fee was $125,000. But "an additional sum of $30,000 was rendered out of the scope of the first contract," said the representative. 

The anonymous representative also clarified that the group had no idea how much money Melania would receive for the services at the event. The New York Times reached out to Mr. Trump's campaign and the former chairman of the PAC — ex-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. However, none of them have responded to the request for comments. 

The same committee that paid Melania also paid more than $350,000 for managing events at Mar-a-Lago in 2021 and 2022. According to the report, there are several political groups and campaigns aligned with the twice-impeached ex-president, who receives frequent money to hold events at the club. 

The New York Times reported Melania wasn't the only one who received a whopping amount. Trump's recent financial filings also show that the former First Lady took $250,000 from the conservative LGBT+ group known as the Log Cabin Republicans in December 2022. This was followed by another $250,000 which came in the same month from a group called Fix California, run by ex-Trump administration official, Richard Grenell.

The 2024 election campaign has begun, but Trump's wife has been far less active in supporting her husband for next year's presidentship. His daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner who had primary roles in the Trump administration last year, are maintaining distance from politics to focus on family.