United States | CNN asked to interview Melania Trump, got the asking price: $250,000

News channel CNN received an extraordinary condition upon request Melania Trump interview: it would cost 250,000 dollars, or about 225,000 euros.

Melania Trump is the previous president of the United States, trying to return to the White House Donald Trump wife. The interview request was related to the publication of Melania Trump’s autobiography, and the payment request to CNN was sent by the book’s publisher.

Skyhorse Publishing sent CNN a “confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement” to be signed, listing the terms of the interview and the use of the book’s content. There was also a demand that “CNN must pay a $250,000 licensing fee.”

CNN did not sign the contract. It has also not received an interview, at least so far.

According to the publisher, the payment request was sent to CNN by mistake and Melania Trump or her representatives did not know about the entire agreement.

To the contract however, it was recorded that it was an interview for a media company. CNN also points out that even if the request for payment was included in it by mistake, the request and the amount left in the message reveal what kind of sums are usually requested for Melania Trump’s appearances.

In September was reportedthat he was paid $237,500 to speak at a political fundraiser in April and has received fees of a similar magnitude on other occasions. At the time, the Daily Beast news website found out whether other spouses of former presidents and presidential candidates have been paid similar compensations: Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Bill Clinton’s denied this.

It’s fine extraordinary that news outlets would pay for interviews. Usually, their internal guidelines forbid it. It would be even more objectionable to pay the spouse of a presidential candidate for an interview during an election.

It is also unusual for an autobiographer to ask for money for an interview related to his book. Generally, he is seen to benefit from the interview to gain exposure for his book.

Melania Trump has recently given interviews only to the conservative Fox News channel. Its representatives assured CNN that the editorial has not paid for the interviews.

Representatives of ABC, NBC and CBS channels did not want to comment to CNN on whether they too have received payment requests from Melania Trump’s publisher.

Melania Trump’s representative declined to comment on the incident to CNN. CNN’s corporate representative also refused to comment on the case to CNN’s editors.