Melania Trump was paid for a rare appearance at a political event. It is unclear who wrote the unusual six-figure check

Washington
CNN
—

Melania Trump has barely been seen on the campaign trail this year. During one of her few appearances at a political event, she received a six-figure paycheck – a highly unusual move for the wife of a candidate.

The former first lady spoke at two Log Cabin Republicans political fundraisers this year and received $237,500 for an event in April, according to former President Donald Trump's most recent disclosure statement. The payment was listed as a “speaking engagement.”

Trump's most recent disclosure form said Melania Trump was paid for the April fundraiser by the Log Cabin Republicans. But who actually wrote the check is a mystery: Log Cabin Republicans chairman Charles Moran told CNN earlier this month that the group did not raise the money for Melania's speech, and the disclosure form did not provide any further information about the source of the payment.

Before the other fundraiser in July for the conservative LGBTQ group, a person familiar with the campaign said at least one request was made to a donor for a similar payment. It is unclear whether Melania Trump was ultimately paid. The campaign has not released financial disclosures for that period. The source told CNN that Ric Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and a Trump ally, was the one who made the request on Melania Trump's behalf. Sources say Grenell has also helped the former first lady with other business ventures.

Campaign finance and government ethics experts say that a payment to a presidential candidate's spouse to attend political fundraising events during the campaign is unusual and ethically questionable and should at least be properly noted on disclosure forms.

“It seems pretty self-serving. In my own general observation, I'm not used to seeing this kind of thing,” said Virginia Canter, chief ethicist at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.

If the organization did not, in fact, make the payment to Melania Trump, the former president's financial disclosure statement may violate ethics rules because it should have listed the sponsor who paid Melania Trump, not just the location where she spoke, Canter said.

“You could state that the payment was for a speaking appearance by the Log Cabin Republicans, but you also have to state who the source of the payment was, otherwise you can't assess the conflicts of interest and it wouldn't be compliant,” she said. “It should have been properly reported so that the source of income for the fee is listed.”

Sources supporting Melania Trump, who attended the Log Cabin Republican events and was unaware that she was paid for at least one of them, defended her, saying it was her right to decide how she spent her time and to be paid for it. One person close to Melania Trump said she had decided that “my best and highest use is where I am,” adding that “she is a priceless, timeless asset” to Donald Trump.

A spokesman for Melania Trump declined to comment on CNN's questions.

Records show Melania Trump also received $250,000 for a Log Cabin Republicans event in December 2022, one of three payments of $250,000 or more she received that month for speeches, shortly after the former president announced his candidacy for reelection, according to Donald Trump's financial disclosure form from last year. One of the events was in Florida, the other was for a California group, Fix California, founded by Grenell. Grenell did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The former first lady also received $155,000 from a Trump-aligned super PAC called “Make America Great Again, Again” for a speech she gave in Palm Beach, Florida, in December 2021, before Trump was the nominee.

She has performed at Log Cabin Republicans events in the past – in 2021 she was also the guest of honor at the group's annual Spirit of Lincoln Gala.

The fundraising appearances also underscore that Melania Trump has been sparing in her campaign this year. In addition to the two appearances at the Log Cabin Republicans, she appeared with her husband at a fundraiser hosted by billionaire investor John Paulson in Palm Beach and made a brief appearance at the Republican National Convention, although she did not give a speech there as she did in 2016. There is no indication that she was paid for the appearance at Paulson's fundraiser.

“She was so disconnected and so absent from this campaign that I could hear her saying, 'If I put in my time, I'm going to get paid,'” said Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary under Trump and top adviser to Melania Trump who has become a critic of the former president. “Even when we were in the White House, she was always so worried about people making money off her because she felt it was money she should be making.”

Grisham said that during her stay at the White House in 2018, Melania Trump instructed her staff to instruct a gift shop near the White House to stop selling Melania Trump memorabilia, such as bobbleheads, without permission.

“She was outraged. She didn't like that they were making money off her,” Grisham said.

Donald Trump's financial disclosures also show that the former first lady earned more than $330,000 last year for a licensing deal to sell digital trading cards (NFTs). She sells jewelry and other collectibles on her website.

In addition, the former first lady is releasing her memoir next month and launching a promotional tour separate from the campaign. In a series of short videos promoting her book about X, she made rare remarks about the attempted assassination of her husband in Butler, Pennsylvania, the 2020 election results and her past as a nude model.

“I wonder why the police didn't arrest the shooter before his speech,” she said in one of the videos, referring to the gunman who shot and wounded Trump at a rally on July 13 before being arrested by the Secret Service.

Melania Trump is not the only member of the Trump family who is paid to be in the political spotlight. Kimberly Guilfoyle received a $60,000 speaking fee to introduce her fiancé, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr., at the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Her speech lasted less than three minutes.

Speaking and appearance fees for events outside of political fundraising campaigns for former government officials are not uncommon.

Former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton earned more than $153 million from paid speaking engagements from 2001 until the former secretary of state launched her presidential campaign in 2016. Former President Barack Obama reportedly earned $400,000 from a single speech at a Wall Street health conference in 2017, drawing criticism from members of his own party at the time. And in the two years after he left the vice presidency and before launching his presidential campaign, Joe and Jill Biden earned a combined $15.6 million, mostly from book deals and speeches.

But representatives of Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Bill Clinton said they had not received any money for fundraising appearances during a political campaign.

The president's son, Hunter Biden, came under fire last spring for selling $85,000 worth of artwork at a Manhattan art gallery while his father was running for re-election.

By all accounts, the Log Cabin Republicans' fundraising efforts have been a success this year, with Grenell posting on X in July that the former first lady “opened her New York penthouse tonight to raise money for the group.”

“It's the first campaign rally ever held at the Trump residence,” he wrote. “And we raised $1.4 million in one night. Our goal is to win 50% of the gay vote for Donald Trump.”

At the April event at Mar-a-Lago where Melania Trump spoke, the organization launched its “Road to Victory” program to reach voters in swing states, according to Politico.

CNN's Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.