US First Lady Melania Trump Releases Farewell Video
Melania Trump is saying goodbye to her children’s wellness initiative as “the legacy of Be Best comes to a close at the White House.”
“I want to thank everyone who has supported Be Best over the past few years,” the first lady said in a video send-off to her signature campaign posted on her Instagram page on Friday.
“The goal of Be Best has been simple: teach youth about the importance of their well-being, both mentally and physically,” Trump said as she narrated a series of montages showing her efforts after launching the program in 2018. “This also includes understanding online safety and the dangers of opioid and drug abuse.”
Trump also highlighted her work encouraging children to practice online civility – a platform of Be Best that many critics have mocked over the years because of President Trump’s history of insults and attacks against his opponents on social media. Twitter permanently suspended the commander in chief’s account last week.
“We expanded resources to adults and families on how to protect our children online and help them understand their self-worth is not defined by social media,” Trump, a mom to 14-year-old Barron, said.
“But our work is not done,” she continued. “As the legacy of Be Best comes to a close at the White House, we must continue to give a voice to our nation’s children and the issues that impact their lives.”
The White House didn’t return ITK’s request for comment about whether the first lady will continue promoting Be Best after Donald Trump’s term ends on Wednesday.
Trump’s remarks about her signature initiative come after she faced criticism earlier this week for her first public comments about the deadly Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. In an error-ridden statement released five days after the siege, the first lady said she was “disappointed and disheartened” by the violence that came as pro-Trump crowds breached the Capitol while protesting Congress’s certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s win.
But in the same statement, Trump also railed against the “salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me – from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda.”