Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on Monday provided context for an interaction she had with Donald Trump in 2023, as described in a forthcoming book.
In Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power, Axios reporter Alex Isenstadt writes that Trump offered Luna—who was pregnant and not feeling well—his bed aboard his personal jet, joking that she just shouldn’t tell Melania about it.
Luna responded at length Monday, the day before Isenstadt’s book is to be released. The congresswoman claimed the author never reached out to her, and called for any Trump-aligned Republicans who have been talking to Isenstadt to be “cut off.”
“I seldom respond to nasty headlines because I don’t like giving trash credibility, however, being that there is allegedly a book coming out with me named and attacking @POTUS, his marriage, our first lady, and frankly implying something distasteful about me, I am responding,“ Luna wrote in response to a Daily Beast post on X titled, “‘Don’t Tell Melania': Trump Once Offered Rising MAGA Star His Bed.”
That post has since been tagged with a Community Note stating that it is devoid of context.
Luna continued: “I was very pregnant and at the time experiencing pre-eclampsia symptoms, but was not diagnosed.”
“As soon as @realDonaldTrump boarded the plane, being the gentleman and good person that he is, said if I did not feel well, I could use the back room,” she explained. “He did this in a respectful way and in front of my husband, of which we thanked him. He also assured me that they had a medical team on board in case anything happened and they were aware of how pregnant I was.”
Luna went on:
“This was the most compassionate thing that could’ve been done at the time. I find it disgusting that the author fails to recognize that. A few weeks later, I was induced because I did have pre-eclampsia. The author of this book never reached out to me for comment. Which means that this book is likely going to be a s--t hit piece. If people in POTUS orbit are talking to this author, they need to be cut off immediately. This is gross.”
When reached for comment by the Daily Beast, an Axios spokesperson stood by Isenstadt’s account.
“In our report, Axios correctly portrayed and contextualized comments made by President Trump during an interaction that he had with Rep. Luna, an interaction she confirmed in her statement did in fact happen,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Trump’s comment to Luna about his wife garnered attention given the reportedly distant relationship between the two.
In an earlier statement to the Daily Beast, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung discounted the story altogether. “Many of these so-called insider books are a desperate attempt to make money off of President Trump’s name because journalism is a dying industry with reporters peddling lies and selling their souls in order to make a quick buck,” Cheung said. “These works of fiction either belong in the bargain bin of the fantasy section in a discount bookstore or should be repurposed as tissue paper.”
Trump was found guilty last year of felony business fraud for trying to cover up an alleged 2006 affair with porn star Stormy Daniels in order to help his 2016 election campaign. At the time, the Trumps' son, Barron, was a few months old.
