In her first interview in more than two years, Melania Trump has blamed "leaders from the opposition party and the mainstream media" for the division that led to assassination attempts on her husband, former president Donald Trump.
The former first lady sat down with Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt to promote her upcoming memoir, Melania, in an interview that aired in segments on the three-hour Fox and Friends program.
Here are some key takeaways.
Despite speculation, Melania does support her husband's re-election tilt
Ms Trump has made few public appearances since her husband announced he would run for president a third time.
Aside from a handful of cameos – most notably when Trump announced his run at Mar-a-Lago in November 2022, a paid appearance at a campaign fundraiser in April, and the Republican National Convention in July – she has not taken a visible role in this campaign.
She was also absent from the courtroom in which her husband faced 34 charges of falsifying business records in the hush money payments case.
"Where is Melania?" has punctuated headlines and social media posts, leading to speculation about her relationship status with her husband and whether she approves of his bid for a second term as president.
When asked how she feels about the campaign, Ms Trump told Earhardt, "I support him."
"I know how passionate he is to make America great again."
In Melania's eyes, Trump's 'strong Tweets' may be his biggest weakness as president
Ms Trump acknowledged another Trump presidency would come with "strong tweets" but would otherwise be "great for this country".
"I think American people need to decide what they really want. Maybe some, you know, strong tweets, but everything else great for this country."
Earhardt had asked the former first lady about her reaction to Vice-President Kamala Harris replacing President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket, which led to a comparison of presidential records.
"The country is suffering; people are not able to buy usual necessities for their families. We have wars going on around the world, soldiers are dying, they were dying under this administration because of weak leadership. The border is open and dangerous, a lot of fentanyl is coming over and killing our youth. It is very hard to see. And our economy, it is really not great – inflation is high," she said.
'Something looked over me': Melania almost saw Trump get shot live
Ms Trump wasn't in Butler, Pennsylvania, the day her husband was shot in the ear but said she came close to seeing the attack live.
Describing the moments before the attack, as described in her book, Earhardt noted a live stream of the rally had been playing on television.
"You started working and you were distracted, so you pushed pause," the Fox anchor said.
"I think your chief of staff, maybe, called you and said, 'He's okay but there's been a shooting.' What happened next?"
"I ran to the TV and I rewound it and I watched it," Ms Trump replied.
"I was only a few minutes behind.
"Something, I guess, looked over me, so I didn't really see live live, but maybe three minutes, few minutes later. When I saw it, you know, nobody really knew yet, because when you see him on the floor, you don't know, you don't know what really happened."
Ms Trump said she learned about the second assassination attempt against her husband, which happened this month, from television news reports.
"I think both of those events, they were really a miracle, if you really think about it," she said.
Both Trumps blame Democrats, media for America's 'toxic atmosphere'
Like her husband, Ms Trump says the media and Democrats are to blame for a divisive climate that led to assassination attempts on his life.
When asked why the Secret Service didn't do more to protect her husband, Ms Trump turned the focus in a different direction.
"Is it really shocking that all this outrageous violence goes against my husband?
"Especially that we hear the leaders from the opposition party and mainstream media branding him as a threat to democracy, calling him vile names, they're only fuelling a toxic atmosphere and giving power to all of these people who want to do harm to him. This needs to stop."
Trump is a 'family man'
With Ms Trump so rarely seen in the public eye, it's perhaps unsurprising that glimpses into the Trumps's home lives are also few and far between.
But the former president is "really a family man", according to his wife.
Earhardt asked Ms Trump what she wishes people knew about her husband.
"He loves his family, he loves this country and all he wants to build, build better and prosperous," she replied.
The former president has a turbulent personal history, which includes alleged extramarital affairs, a criminal conviction over hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, and being found liable for sexually assaulting E Jean Carroll.
Sceptics took to social media to question the truth behind the family man image Ms Trump described.
