Donald Trump left little to the imagination during a recent campaign rally after making an unexpected — and deeply personal — remark about his wife Melania Trump.
“I had these animals trying to attack me..”
Donald Trump, 79, spoke to supporters in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on December 19, covering his administration’s policies and the economy ahead of the 2026 midterms.
During the 90-minute event, which he dubbed a “quick little stop” on his way to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays, Trump periodically addressed economic issues.
Still, what started as a routine political speech soon took an unexpected turn.
While revisiting the FBI’s 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump abruptly shifted from discussing the investigation to sharing details about his wife’s wardrobe, specifically, her underwear.
Referring to the FBI search of his Florida property, he told, “I had these animals trying to attack me at Mar-a-Lago.”
Recounting the raid on the Palm Beach estate, Trump told the crowd: “They went into my wife’s closet … they looked at her drawers.”
After that, he went on to emphasize just how meticulous Melania is, describing her organization habits in unusually vivid detail.
“Her undergarments, sometimes referred to as panties, are folded perfect, wrapped. They’re, like, so perfect.”
Trump didn’t stop there, adding another detail that drew audible reactions from the audience: “I think that she steams them.”
Describing what he called unnecessary disruption during the search, Trump said:
“She opened the drawers and it was not that way,” he said. “They were a mess. It was all over the place. And she said, ‘Oh, what happened? That’s so terrible.’”
Most talked-about part of the rally
The remark quickly became one of the rally’s most widely discussed moments, leaving many people surprised that a conversation about federal investigations had veered into comments about the first lady’s laundry habits.
The FBI search occurred in August 2022 as part of a criminal probe into the handling of presidential records. Earlier that year, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) disclosed that 15 boxes of documents had been taken from the White House and kept at Mar-a-Lago, despite federal regulations requiring all official records to be returned when a presidency ends.
After the search, the warrant and inventory list were released to the public, revealing that investigators were seeking evidence of potential obstruction of justice, destruction or concealment of records, or violations of the Espionage Act.
Agents reportedly recovered 11 sets of classified materials during the search, including documents labeled “top secret,” which are normally limited to secure government locations.
In June 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Trump over the alleged improper handling of classified documents, marking the first time a former U.S. president faced federal criminal charges. He was arrested and appeared in federal court in Florida, where he entered a not-guilty plea.
Though additional charges were later filed, the case was ultimately dismissed in July 2024.
