Why Did Melania Trump Really Want To Send To Children In Africa?

Melania Trump didn't say much during her tenure in the White House, but she did take several solo trips abroad in her capacity as the first lady, including her much-publicized trip to Africa in 2018. During an interview with ABC News, Melania opened up about meeting with new mothers in Ghana and dancing with orphans in Kenya as part of her state visit. "I think it is very important that we show the world that America cares. That this administration cares and I care. When other people have more opportunities, then the world is freer," she said.

However, little did anyone know at the time that Melania also wanted to send over an interesting gift to the children that she met while in Africa. It was actually such an odd request that the White House's counsel office deemed the first lady's choice of gift as a "liability," according to the Independent. And no, it wasn't the same kind of gift wrapped in a baby blue box that she gave to former first lady Michelle Obama on Inauguration Day in 2018. Keep reading below to find out what it was.

Melania Trump's former communications director Stephanie Grisham has written a new book about her time behind closed doors in the White House. In the memoir, "I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House," Grisham says that she was there by Melania's side during her trip to Africa. 

During their visit to the Chipala primary school in Malawi, Melania and her staff, according to Grisham, was surprised when so many of the school's pupils had asked to have their pictures taken with a cell phone just because they wanted to see what they looked like. That's when the first lady came up with the idea to send mirrors to them — but her idea was scrapped by (now former) chief of staff Lindsay Reynolds, who didn't think it was a good idea, PR-wise. Per the Independent, Grisham put it this way: "Only my opinion of course, but I never really believed that to be true, though, because on more than one occasion Lindsay shared with me that she thought it would be a PR nightmare, a model sending African children mirrors." 

Melania herself has not made any comments about the matter, but then again it's no secret that mirrors are very important in the Trump household. After all, her husband spent a lot of time interviewing himself on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."