Former first lady Melania Trump blasted “dream killers” in the media following reporting on an investigation launched by Florida officials into a fundraiser of hers.
Tickets for a charitable “high tea” event, set to take place in April, are being sold by Trump, and the profits are supposedly going toward the “Fostering the Future” initiative of her “Be Best” endeavor, The New York Times reported Saturday.
But neither Fostering the Future or “Be Best” are registered charities in Florida, the newspaper noted. Florida officials told the Times that the Consumer Services Division was conducting a probe into the fundraiser.
“Despite my actions, the press continues to publish inaccurate, misleading, and outright incorrect articles about my work. The media has created a narrative whereby I am trying to act in an illegal or unethical manner,” Trump said in a statement on Friday.
“That portrayal is simply untrue and adversely affects the children I hope to support. Those who attack my initiatives and create the appearance of impropriety are quite literally dream killers. They have canceled the hopes and dreams of children by trying to cancel me.”
In her statement, she indicated she was the victim of a “politically motivated decision” recently regarding her Fostering the Future initiative, in which she said that an Oklahoma school that was supposed to receive scholarships decided against working with her.
“Recently, a computer science school founded in Silicon Valley with a campus in Oklahoma agreed to work with Fostering the Future. Multiple scholarships were going to be granted through the school’s preferred designated fund, based in Tulsa, with the first class of students enrolling in Fall 2022,” Trump wrote.
“I had signed the Designated Fund Agreement and was waiting for the countersignature when the school informed me it would no longer participate. They would not accept scholarship dollars for deserving students—even as an anonymous gift. It was made clear to me that the school’s Board of Directors organized a politically motivated decision,” she added.
She claimed it was the not the first time that her mission “to support children” had been impeded by politics, but said, “Supporting children is not, and should never be, part of a political agenda.”