How Melania Trump 'Stepped Up' To Save Her Husband From Access Hollywood Tape Scandal

A former aide to Melania Trump has claimed that the ex-first lady "stepped up" to shield her husband from the effects of the Access Hollywood tape on his 2016 presidential campaign.

It comes after Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, told the jury in the hush money trial that Melania inspired the "locker room" excuse.

Following Cohen's testimony in the Trump hush money trial, it appears that Melania's former aide, Wolkoff, has supported the former lawyer's claims that her ex-boss had a hand in managing the narrative after the Access Hollywood tape scandal.

Wolkoff took to social media to reveal that the former model knew that the tape "could take Trump down," so she "stepped up" to help him control the narrative when she appeared in an interview with Anderson Cooper at the time.

The former senior adviser wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "Melania Trump tried to appear calm & poised on her October 18, 2016 interview with Anderson Cooper a few days after our luncheon playing up the 'boys being boys' talking points & spinning 'LOCKER ROOM TALK' as no big deal."

She added, "She knew this could take Trump down. She stepped up."

Later, Wolkoff added a snippet from the interview with Cooper, where Melania alluded to the Access Hollywood tape debacle as just "locker room talk."

In the video, Melania seemed to suggest that the conversation captured in the tape was akin to the sort that two teenage boys might have had, implying they should have shown better conduct. She also contributed to the narrative with a quip about Trump's behavior being just like that of her son, Baron.

Melania added, "Sometimes I say I have two boys at home. I have my young son and I have my husband.   I know how some men talk, and that's how I saw it.

The former aide in her post also quoted an earlier tweet she made where she claimed that Melania and Trump have an "unconventional marriage" and that the former model is "complicit."

The previous day, Trump's former lawyer took to the stand to testify that Melania was the brain behind her husband's "Locker Room" excuse.

"We needed to put a spin on this," Cohen told the jury about the Access Hollywood tape, per Yahoo. "That this is locker room talk, something that Melania had recommended—that's what Melania had thought it was—and use that in order to get control over the story and to minimize its impact on him and his campaign."

As part of his testimony, Cohen also corroborated the claims of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker about working for Trump to "catch and kill" negative stories about him.

The former Trump special counsel also revealed that he indeed wired the sum of $130,000 as a hush payment to Stormy Daniels, the former adult star who is central to the ongoing hush money trial.

The leaked Access Hollywood footage went viral one month before the 2016 election, which was later won by Trump, defeating his main opponent, Hillary Clinton.

In the footage, which featured the former president and then-host of Access Hollywood, Billy Bush, Trump could be heard boasting about groping women, adding, "When you're a star, they let you do it."

The leaked footage birthed the infamous lewd quote associated with the Republican presidential hopeful.

Trump reportedly said, "You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the p-ssy. You can do anything."

Per MSNBC, prosecutors believe that the tape "bears directly on defendant's intent and motive, both at the time that he and his confederates made the Stormy Daniels payoff and later when they sought to conceal that payment."

They also claimed that its release "caused a panic within the campaign about the defendant's electoral prospects and ultimately served as the catalyst for consummating the Stormy Daniels payoff."

In his hush money trial, Trump is currently facing 34 charges stemming from the illegal payments he made to Daniels via Cohen. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks before a verdict is reached.