First lady Melania Trump, right, and second lady Karen Pence, left, greet students at Albritton Middle School in Fort Bragg, N.C., Monday, April 15, 2019.
- A new book details some aspects of first lady Melania Trump's distant relationship with second lady Karen Pence.
- On one particular occasion, CNN correspondent Kate Bennett noticed that Pence had not been invited to, or had not accepted an invitation to, Trump's spacious and private cabin aboard a military jet.
- Trump, who is 5'11, also notably did not change into lower shoes when she appeared next to the petite second lady.
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First lady Melania Trump has an icy relationship with second lady Karen Pence, according to a new book.
CNN Correspondent Kate Bennett writes in a new biography that one trip stood out as a key example of the distant relationship the two women share.
On a trip to Corpus Christi, Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Bennett remembers, from her seat in the back of the On a C-32 military jet alongside the rest of the press pool, "watching someone who looked a lot like Karen Pence, moving from the section ahead of ours, typically where aide and advance teams sit, and head toward the back lavatory."
Pence's place among aides meant either that the first lady had not invited Pence to her spacious private cabin at the front of the plane, or Pence didn't accept an invitation. Either possibility struck Bennett as "strange and telling" about their relationship.
After the flight, the reporter noted that Trump, who stands at 5'11, didn't remove her four-inch heels when the two landed and towered "almost comically" over the second lady, who was in flats.
Bennett wrote that this "confirmed" her suspicions the two weren't close, as Trump usually wears a low heel or flat when appearing alongside someone shorter or in lower shoes.
The incident wasn't a one-off either, Bennett notes, as Trump towered over Pence again during an April 2019 trip to North Carolina.
Despite the accounts, the two women have presented a united and friendly front in recent months, coming together in late 2019 in visits to schoolchildren and military families, and assembling Red Cross care kits for troops overseas.
The book, "Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography," will be released on Tuesday.