STEPHANIE WINSTON WOLKOFF

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump step off Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. – Melania Trump said Monday that she is “disappointed and disheartened” by the deadly riot at the Capitol last week by supporters of her husband. “I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week,” she wrote in a White House blog post released before sunrise. Trump encouraged his supporters to flock to Washington last Wednesday, the day set for Congress to certify the presidential vote. After addressing a rally near the White House in which he encouraged his supporters to keep fighting, they stormed the Capitol.

While it’s relatively rare for first ladies to push back so strongly against negative coverage, Mrs. Trump has repeatedly spoken out about her critics. Wolkoff, in addition to her book, also released audio recordings in which the first lady is heard complaining about having to decorate the mansion for Christmas. Myra Gutin, a professor at Rider University and an author on first ladies, said Mrs. Trump's post probably wasn’t smart politics just weeks before the election. She wrote in the book about her work on Trump's inauguration and blamed the first lady for not defending her after questions arose about excessive spending by the committee. Her book chronicled a yearslong relationship with the first lady and their regular lunches in New York City and emoji-filled text exchanges.

Wolkoff detailed her falling out with Mrs. Trump in a new book the White House has dismissed as full of “mistruths and paranoia.” Wolkoff also had confirmed she had Mrs. Trump on tape. President Trump was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment on Oct. 2, and was sent home three days later. His White House doctor said Trump tested negative for the virus on consecutive days and was no longer considered contagious. Former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Mrs. Trump may want to be a “little bit more selective” about how she reengages after recovery. Mrs. Trump convalesced at the White House for nearly a month before she resumed a public schedule.

WASHINGTON – First lady Melania Trump expressed support for the care that migrant children separated from their families received in U.S. detention centers, suggesting the facilities were better than what they had at home with their parents, in a series of recordings that aired Thursday. It’s so sad to hear, but they didn’t have that in their own countries. She helped produce Trump’s inauguration and later worked for the first lady as an unpaid White House adviser. “There is no way to know if these recordings have been edited and it’s clear the clips were hand-picked and presented with no context. The first lady remains focused on her family and serving our country," Grisham said.

NEW YORK – It's high season for books that pick apart Donald Trump's presidency, and Rachel Maddow is a big beneficiary. With less than two months before the election, authors are elbowing each other for space on the best-seller lists. Conservative authors have also sought attention for new books during the political season. That was the case with Schmidt's book. Maddow gave more attention to Schmidt's discussion about why Trump's personal and business dealings with Russia have not been investigated.

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:1. MIGRANT ROUTE TAKES DEADLY TURN They are increasingly crossing a treacherous part of the Atlantic to reach the Canary Islands in what has become one of the most dangerous migration routes to European territory. STORIED POLITICAL NAME FALLS Sen. Edward Markey defeats Rep. Joe Kennedy III in a hard-fought Democratic primary for Senate the first time a Kennedy has lost a race for Congress in Massachusetts. NOTORIOUS KHMER ROUGE COMMANDER DIES Kaing Guek Eav, who admitted overseeing the torture and killings of as many as 16,000 Cambodians while running the regimes most notorious prison, was 77. FIRST LADYS EX-ADVISER SAYS SHE TAPED CALLS FOR PROTECTION Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, author of a new book about Melania Trump, says she needed evidence to protect herself amid questions about costs of the inauguration.