Melania Trump declines Jill Biden invitation for tea at White House: 'The Bidens are disgusting'

Melania Trump, wife of US president-elect Donald Trump, has turned down an invitation to visit the White House and meet First Lady Jill Biden, reportedly because she's still angry over the FBI’s 2022 search of her Mar-a-Lago residence.

According to The New York Post, Melania declined the meeting, a traditional courtesy extended between outgoing and incoming first ladies, because “Jill Biden’s husband authorised the FBI snooping through her underwear drawer”.

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The publication quoted a source close to Melania as saying: “The Bidens are disgusting,” and that “Jill Biden isn’t someone Melania needs to meet.”

While Melania is opting out of the customary tour and tea — a tradition she participated in when Michelle Obama hosted her after Trump’s 2016 win — her husband, President-elect Donald Trump, is expected to meet with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office on Wednesday (Nov 13).

Trump had declined to extend the same invitation to the Bidens in 2020, breaking the decades long White House custom.

Mar-a-Lago search

The 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago was part of a federal investigation into classified documents that were reportedly taken from the White House after Trump’s presidency. The classified documents case was dismissed by US Judge Aileen Cannon in July.

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Melania has previously voiced her frustration about the search in a Fox and Friends interview in September, calling it an “invasion of privacy.”

She described returning to her residence to find her personal spaces ransacked, including her closet and her son Barron’s room: “I saw unpleasant stuff that nobody wants to see.”

“You get angry because, you know, nobody should be putting up with that kind of stuff,” she added.

(With inputs from agencies)