In its latest round of FEC disclosures, the Save America PAC,
this is the PAC supporting former President Donald Trump, and
his attempts to become president again, continued to burn through just
tens of millions of dollars on a lot of nonsense, his legal fees, of course.
But something that hasn't really gotten as much attention as the amount of
money they're spending on his legal field fees is how much money
they've already spent on Melania Trump's outfits.
Which is kind of surprising because Melania Trump hasn't really been
in the public eye lately.
Doesn't really seem like she's attending these rallies or
campaigning alongside her husband.
But according to these reports, the PAC paid over $108,000 for
strategy consulting to a fashion designer by the name of Herve Pierre Braillard.
And they spent that money in just six months, the first six months of 2023.
So if you're wondering who he is, he is a French-American designer,
and he's actually been designing and styling Melania Trump for years.
In fact, he designed the gown, or
this gown that Melania wore to her husband's inaugural ball.
Apparently, he has also designed gowns for Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush,
and Michelle Obama.
And this also is not the first time that the PAC has cut a check to this guy or
the first time it's claimed that the money was for strategy consulting.
By the way, how are outfit strategy consulting?
It's kind of funny, but nonetheless, in 2022, FEC filings show that
he was given $152,500 in total through 10 payments across the year by the PAC.
Across both years, all but one disbursement gave
a description of the service provided as strategy consulting,
the other was an end-of-the-year bonus in May of 2022 of $2,500.
Okay, so look, these kinds of stories pop up every once in a while,
and they tend to impact women in both parties.
If I recall correctly, early on in AOC's stint as a Congresswoman,
Republicans went after her, alleging that she was wearing an expensive blazer.
In this case, though, I mean, that was ridiculous.
But in this case, is it also ridiculous, Francesca?
Or do you think that there's a point to be made here about misuse of campaign?
>> Speaker 2: I mean, I think there is a point to be made about misuse of campaign
funds, absolutely.
But that's run rampant throughout the entire Trump cabinet, right?
And the Trump campaign.
Remember Paul Manafort's spending a bunch of money on ostrich suits?
Now, none of that was actually from a Trump.
It was a weird, he had something with wearing ostrich, which I'm, anyway.
>> I remember that.
>> Right?
Now, look, I don't think it really speaks to anything, but
how just kinda tacky and out of it the entire Trump team is.
This is not 2016.
They are not in their heyday.
This is 2023, and you're absolutely right, Melania is nowhere to be seen.
This is a huge expense, $100,000.
Rudy Giuliani, Hello.
He's just getting paid in IOUs and free sandwiches.
That's seriously all is happening.
And I do not feel bad about Rudy Giuliani.
Remember how he's an alleged sex pest?
Anyway- >> I do not feel bad for him at all.
Not even a little bit, yeah.
>> No, exactly.
But it just speaks to what's interesting is that and Ana,
you tell me what you think, you see Ron DeSantis's wife out in front and
I'm sorry, I'm blanking on her name, but you see her out in front.
She's speaking on behalf of him.
She's trying to push him.
Melania is absolutely absent.
Is she stumping?
Is she defending him?
Is she talking?
Is she creating?
No, this is all, give her what she wants so she does not divorce me
in the middle of a million indictments, one of which has to do with, yes,
the fact that I cheated on her with a porn star, right?
Yeah, and didn't rape, I guess, but sexually abused E Jean Carroll.
All this, I was just, give her gowns to wear in her sad little wing of Mar-a-Lago.
>> God it's such a terrible situation to be in.
I mean, the worst part about getting cheated
on is the humiliation that you feel, right?
And this public humiliation.
And look, I know that I probably shouldn't feel any sympathy for Melania Trump.
She has said and done terrible things.
However, I wouldn't wish that kind of public humiliation on any woman.
And look, I just think that this is definitely,
clearly a misuse of campaign funds.
If she were like Casey DeSantis, if she were campaigning alongside Donald Trump,
then, okay, fine, I still think it's a waste.
I mean, just dress yourself.
Why is it so difficult to do that?
But at least a case could be made that these funds for her outfits make sense.
They make sense, but in this particular case, I don't think they do.
As the New York Times reports, she wants nothing to do with public life.
Unlike her predecessors, there are no plans for a speaking tour, okay?
A book, or a major expansion of her charitable efforts, most of which,
people close to the Trump say, are not fully visible to the public.
In her post-presidential life,
Mrs Trump wants what she could not get in the White House, a sense of privacy.
So how does it make sense for
the campaign to spend this kind of money on her outfits?
And it seems Melania wants nothing to do with what her husband's been up to lately,
by the way, just kind of going back to the indictments and
E Jean Carroll case and how embarrassing that must be for Melania.
It's hilarious because Trump this week made a statement about how unpleasant
it is to have to tell Melania about these indictments and what's currently going on.
And I just can't help but think to myself, maybe you should have considered
that before you had sex with porn stars while Melania was pregnant.
Maybe you should have considered that.
You get what I'm saying?
Maybe you should have considered how terrible this would be for your family,
your personal, forget the political side of things.
What I would venture to say is more important than your political
aspirations is your family and your younger son, right?
Who's also having to absorb all this garbage that you've engaged in.
Maybe consider your family before engaging in the alleged criminality that
you've engaged in.
Just something to consider.
>> And layering it too.
But he never wanted to be president.
It was supposed to be a branding exercise.
Who knew he hit on, again, the little Mussolini nerve,
the little kinda white supremacist.
Again, not every Trump voter is that, but again,
the sort of, faux economic, populist, funny bone of the United States.
And he won.
And also the Democrats ran Hillary Clinton, so, who yeah,
won the popular vote, but not where it necessarily mattered.
So there you go.
This was supposed to be kind of a ride out into the sunset.
You do your branding.
You sell a bunch of stuff.
And you're aggrieved.
You're the martyr.
Goodbye.
You can run again and maybe lose again, it doesn't matter.
So I do kind of feel for Melania, honestly.
And I actually kind of understand if someone never wanted to be in public life,
they really just wanted their privacy.
Yeah, I would just kinda chill afterwards.
This is her proverbial riding on a windsail or what is it?
Wind sailing with Richard Branson like Obama did when he left office.
That's what Melania's doing, except she's wearing her gowns.