Melania Trump boycotts tea invitation from Jill Biden while husbands meet

New York, Nov 13 (IANS) Melania Trump boycotted a meeting with Jill Biden, while their husbands held a traditional meeting at the White House on Wednesday.

Two hours before US President-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden were to meet, the office of Melania Trump said in an X post, "Mrs Trump will not be attending today's meeting at the White House."

"Her husband's return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success," it said.

Her office did not give a reason for her not taking up First Lady Jill Biden's invitation for tea.

But it added, "In this instance, several unnamed sources in the media continue to provide false, misleading, and inaccurate information. Be discerning with your source of news."

It did not specifically deny any of the reports about her not meeting Jill Biden.

The New York Post had reported on Monday that she was not going to the White House and quoted an unnamed "source familiar with Melania's decision" as saying that she was miffed that Jill Biden's husband authorised the raid on the Mara-a-Lago residence during which Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents went through her personal wardrobe.

The FBI raided the Trumps' home in August 2022 looking for top secret documents that Trump allegedly took with him in contraversion of the Official Secrets Act.

Following tradition, Michelle Obama had Melania Trump over for tea and gave her a tour of the White House after Donald Trump was elected.

But Melania Trump did not invite Jill Biden for a meeting, just as Donald Trump, who insisted that the election was "stolen," did not have the traditional meeting with Joe Biden.

Melania Trump appears to be icy towards the First Lady, according to an interview she gave the French Magazine Paris Match.

Fox News reported on the interview that took place last month before the election.

Jill Biden "took the initiative to contact me directly" after "someone tried to murder my husband in Pennsylvania" during his rally on July 13, Fox News reported her as saying.

But she said, "I do question, however, whether Jill's concern was genuine as a few days prior she referred to my husband as 'evil' and a 'liar'."

"It was obvious that the onslaught of rhetoric from Democrat leaders and the mainstream media was so deeply embedded in our nation's consciousness it prompted an attempt to assassinate Donald," she said in the interview according to Fox News.