Melania Trump played 'limited role' in 2016 elections as she didn't believe Donald would win

Former United States first lady Melania Trump was not on the forefront during her husband Donald Trump's campaign for the 2016 presidential elections. A new report has claimed that this was because she believed there were minimal chances of him winning the polls.

The former model still supported her husband on the public front, often making appearances and speeches on his behalf, but Donald's aides revealed that she did not always believe he would be able to win the elections. In a conversation with Insider as part of its "definitive oral history" of how Trump ultimately took over the Republican Party, his former personal attorney Michael Cohen alleged, "Melania played a very limited role during the campaign not believing Donald would actually win."

"However, when directly asked for her opinion on a matter by Donald, she offered it readily," Cohen added.

Meanwhile, Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski claimed that Melania shared some of her husband's more controversial opinions, including that late senator John McCain, who spent five-and-half years in a North Vietnamese prison while serving as a Navy pilot, was not a hero. Trump had famously said about McCain while campaigning in Iowa in 2015, "He's not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."

Lewandowski recalled about the incident, "We had a whole day planned in Iowa that day. I remember it very vividly. I waited for Mr. Trump to walk off the stage, and I said, 'I'd like to speak to you.' ... And I said: 'Sir, by all accounts, John McCain is a war hero. You need to apologize.' He said, 'Yeah, no apologies.'"

"We flew from Iowa back to New Jersey, and this guy Dave picked us up in the car and we drove over to Mr. Trump's home. As we walked in the door, Mrs. Trump was waiting for us. She said: 'You're right. John McCain isn't a war hero. What he has done for the veterans has been shameful,'" he added.

However, representatives for the former FLOTUS have refuted Lewandowski's claims, telling People magazine, "This story is inaccurate. Mrs. Trump respects and values all service men and women who have served and are currently serving our great Nation."