The Grift Files · Who got what · Updated Nov. 8, 2026
First Lady
The card
About $40 million from Amazon for a documentary she controls editorially
Amazon, whose founder has business before the government and attended the inauguration, licensed 'Melania' for about $40 million, reported to be far above rival bids, and gave the First Lady editorial control.
Response: An Amazon MGM spokesperson: "We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only, because we think customers are going to love it."
Source: CNN (via Yahoo Entertainment)
Holding office, or a family name, is not a crime. This page says only what the sources say, and carries the response where one was given. Every story we have filed that names Melania Trump: Melania Trump in the news.
In the timeline
2 dated entries from the Grift Files timeline, oldest first, each with its source.
On the Sunday evening before the inauguration, Melania Trump posted that investors could 'buy $MELANIA now.' Her coin reached a market value of about $2.15 billion the next morning, while the $TRUMP coin fell about 20% on Monday and, by one count, briefly as much as 40%. Both coins later lost most of their value.
Source: CNBC
Amazon MGM Studios paid roughly $40 million to license a documentary about Melania Trump, plus about $35 million in marketing, and opened it in theaters with a Kennedy Center screening. Melania Trump is executive producer with editorial control. The deal was struck weeks after the 2024 election, and critics saw it as a way for Amazon to court the incoming administration. Trump's 2025 financial disclosure, released in mid-2026, lists a $10.71 million licensing fee tied to the film.
The response: An Amazon MGM spokesperson said: 'We licensed the film for one reason and one reason only — because we think customers are going to love it.'
Source: CNN (via Yahoo Entertainment), Consequence
Exhibit C
1 records you can open and read yourself: financial disclosures, securities filings, court dockets, budget-office estimates, Treasury figures and congressional reports. Every link goes to the official copy or the original report.
The president's own sworn report of 2025 income and assets: over $2 billion in revenue, $80 million-plus from media settlements, $77 million at Mar-a-Lago, licensing fees for watches, Bibles, fragrances and the Melania film. Large PDF (about 13 MB, 927 pages).
U.S. Office of Government Ethics · 927 pages, 13 MB
Open the record ↗From our newsroom
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