How Melania’s friendship with an archivist working at the agency suing her HUSBAND led to hosting ceremony where she talked about her humble beginnings in Slovenia and her ‘arduous’ journey to the White House

• Melania Trump met Colleen Shogan when she was first lady
• President Biden nominated Colleen Shogan to be archivist of United States
• Shogan invited Melania – a naturalized citizen – to Friday’s ceremony 

Melania Trump’s friendship with US Archivist Colleen Shogan led to her speaking at Friday’s naturalization ceremony for new citizens, where she talked about her journey from her childhood in Slovenia to her time in the White House.

Shogan personally invited the former First Lady to attend, a spokesperson for the National Archives said.

During Trump’s time in the White House, Shogan worked alongside her and her East Wing staff on numerous projects in Shogan’s roles with the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission and at the White House Historical Association. 

Ironically, Shogan’s swearing-in ceremony as archivist was attended by Jill Biden. Shogan was appointed to the archivist position by President Joe Biden in the summer of 2022 – shortly after the FBI raided Donald Trump’s home and seized thousands of pages of documents amid investigations into whether he took classified material from the White House after his presidency.

Former First Lady Melania Trump stands alongside Judge Elizabeth Gunn (left) and Archivist of the US Colleen Shogan (right) as they pose for photographs with a newly-sworn in citizens following a Naturalization Ceremony at the National Archives

Melania Trump talks with Colleen Shogan when she was first lady in 2020

But there was no shop talk at Friday’s ceremony where the former first lady described her journey from her childhood in Slovenia to a new life in the United States, along with the sense of pride she felt at becoming an American.

‘The pathway to citizenship is arduous. I was born and raised in the picturesque country of Slovenia where my parents taught me the importance of strong work ethic and pursuing my dreams,’ Melania Trump said. 

The values they instilled in me at an early age passion my modeling career and brought me to Paris and Milan. While working internationally, it’s headed shares of trials and tribulations, it was not until I moved to New York City in 1996 that the system truly tested my determination.

‘My life turned into organizing paperwork,’ she said of her citizenship process.

‘Patience and preservence became my constant companions,’ she said. ‘For me reaching the milestone marked the sunrise of certainty. At that exact moment, I forever discarded the layer of burden connected whether I would be able to live in the United States. I hope you have similar feelings of comfort right now.’

She said becoming a citizen gave her ‘a tremendous sense of pride and belonging.’

Melania arrived in American from Slovenia in 1996 and became a U.S. citizen 10 years later. She is only the country’s second foreign-born first lady.

In her childhood, Melania’s father Viktor was a Communist Party member under Yugoslav dictator Marshal Tito, and as Melania grew up the family lived in a string of modest apartments. 

A car parts salesman, Viktor drove a Mercedes, and by the time young Melania was 16 he had built the house in the small town of Sevnica – population 4,500 – as a weekend retreat for the family. The property is on the banks of the River Sava.

Meanwhile, Melania’s mother Amalija worked as an executive in a textile factory. She would come back from business trips to Milan and Paris with tales that would inspire her daughter to make her name in international fashion – first as a designer before embarking on the modelling career that would lead to her meeting Donald Trump.

Melania Knauss Trump – center bottom row – as a school girl in Slovenia in 2015

Melania Trump on Donald Trump’s inauguration day – January 20, 2021

She started modeling in Europe and, in 1996, moved to New York City. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006 and then sponsored her parents to become American citizens. 

Melania, her parents and sister moved to an apartment in Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, when she was about 14, and she started at the city’s Secondary School of Design and Photography.

But her family retained their links with Sevnica, building their own white-painted house with a balcony and staying there at weekends.

Her parents, who have lived in New York in recent years, still own the house and return once or twice a year. It even has a US-style mailbox. 

Melania was 16 when she was spotted by fashion photographer Stane Jerko in Ljubljana and he invited her to pose for him. He said: ‘I saw this tall girl with long hair and long legs so immediately introduced myself. She was a little self-conscious when I first photographed her, but she learned very quickly and relaxed.’

After modeling in Western Europe, she moved to New York in 1996. Two years later she met then-real estate mogul Donald Trump at a party. The two became engaged in 2004 and married the next year in Palm Beach, Florida. 

In 2006 she had their son Barron. She also became a US citizen and then later sponsored her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, in a process known as chain-migration.

Friday’s naturalization event comes nearly two years after the National Archives and Record Administration asked the Justice Department to investigate Donald Trump’s handling of documents from his tenure in the White House. 

The probe led to an indictment of the former president who has pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges. The trial in this case is expected to start in Florida in May. 

Donald Trump has pledged a widespread expansion of hardline immigration policies if elected again in 2024 that would restrict both legal and illegal immigration.

During the Trump administration, Melania did not appear to be involved in immigration issues – particularly after her controversial visit to a migrant detention center on the southern border in 2018 when she wore her now-infamous ‘I really don’t care, do u?’ jacket.

Melania Trump was born in Slovenia in 1970 and came to the U.S. in 1996

Melania Trump made a rare appearance last month at the funeral for Rossalyn Carter, joining former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton

As first lady, Melania Trump visited migrant detention center on the southern border in 2018 where she wore her now-infamous ‘I really don’t care, do u?’ jacket

Melania Trump has largely avoided the public eye since leaving Washington in January 2021. She has been seen in social media posts from guests visiting the Trump clubs at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida; and in Bedminster, New Jersey. 

She made a rare appearance last month at the funeral for Rossalyn Carter, joining former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton.

Notably, Melania Trump hasn’t been by Donald Trump’s side as he fights his many legal battles in New York, Georgia, and federal courts. 

And while Melania Trump has said she supports her husband’s bid for a second term in the White House, but she hasn’t appeared at one of his campaign events in more than a year – not since he announced his 2024 bid at Mar-a-Lago on November 15th, 2022.

In September, Donald Trump suggested his wife would soon join him on the trail.

Trump suggested his wife might join him on the campaign trail in the near future.

‘When it’s appropriate, but pretty soon,’ he said on NBC’s Meet the Press. ‘She’s a private person, a great person, a very confident person and she loves our country very much. … And honestly, I like to keep her away from it. It’s so nasty and so mean.’

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