Report: Melania Trump Was Inexplicably in the Situation Room for the 2019 ISIS Raid, Told Trump to “Talk About the Dog” Afterward

For most of her time as first lady, Melania Trump gave off the vibe that she’d literally rather be anywhere else, a conclusion lots of people came to thanks to (1) that “I Really Don’t Care” jacket, (2) the “Who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decoration?” recording, and (3) her refusal to try and stop the brutal January 6 attack on the Capitol because she reportedly was busy photographing rugs. (Also, her seeming disdain for her husband, the not-happy tears she reportedly cried after he won, and the fact that she delayed her move to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for nearly five months were pretty good indications.) But a new report suggests that the former first lady may have been more intimately involved in matters of government than previously thought.

In a new book set for release this week by former acting defense secretary Christopher Miller, the ex-Trump-administration official writes that Melania was, inexplicably, in the Situation Room during the US’s 2019 ISIS raid that resulted in the death of then ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. According to Miller, Melania was there with the president, Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, among others. He writes: “Her presence was unexpected, to say the least. I wondered how it would play in the press if word got out that the first lady had popped in to watch a major military operation,” according to a copy of the memoir that was viewed by The Hill.

As we’ve known for several years now, al-Baghdadi blew himself up after a military dog named Conan led troops into the ISIS leader’s compound and had him surrounded. (The blast also killed two of al-Baghdadi’s children and two of his wives.) But according to Miller, it was Melania who came up with the idea about how to tell the American people about the mission. “You should talk about the dog,” Miller said she told the president. “Everyone loves dogs.”

Everyone, of course, except Donald Trump, who has a well-established disdain for animals in general and dogs in particular. (The only president in more than a century to live in the White House without a pet, Trump’s ex-wife Ivana wrote in her 2017 memoir that “Donald was not a dog fan,” and that her poodle, Chappy, would “bark at him territorially” whenever he got near her closet. Trump also has a long history of denigrating ex-employees and other perceived enemies by comparing them to dogs, tweeting that his enemies have “choked like a dog,” been “dumped like a dog,” been “fired like a dog,” and, our personal favorite, been “kicked out of the ABC News debate like a dog.”)

Nevertheless, Trump chose to listen to his third wife, which apparently led to him excitedly tweeting that Conan was a “wonderful dog” who did a “GREAT JOB” on behalf of the United States, and sharing a photoshopped image of him awarding Conan the medal of honor and calling him an “AMERICAN HERO.” Later, he invited Conan for an official visit to the White House wherein he told reporters, “The dog is incredible. Actually incredible. We spent some good time with it. So brilliant and so smart.” Later, he added that “Conan was very badly hurt as you know, and they thought maybe he was not going to recover. Recovered very quickly and has since gone on very important raids.” Naturally, he also “joked” about siccing Conan on a a member of the free press known for asking tough questions, saying, “It’s trained that if you open your mouths you will be attacked. You ought to be very, very careful.”

Yet perhaps the most surprising turn of events, given what we now know about Melania’s reported role in all this? That she answered a curt and totally unambiguous “no” when asked if she was interested in adopting Conan for her son. That’s right, not even an “I’ll think about it!”

Anyway, this revelation obviously raises more questions than it answers, such as, how many other matters of grave national security did the then first lady sit in on, and will she be spearheading any overseas military operations in a potential second term?