In his most recent lash out, President Donald Trump attacked LeBron James after watching a CNN interview with the NBA star and reporter Don Lemon. On Friday, James and Lemon found themselves in the confines of Trump's late night thoughts, which of course, Trump was so moved to tweet about. Enter Melania Trump. According to The Guardian, the First Lady's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham released a statement the following day that showed support for James. "It looks like LeBron James is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation and just as she always has, the first lady encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today," Grisham's statement read. "As you know, Mrs. Trump has traveled the country and world talking to children about their well-being, healthy living, and the importance of responsible online behavior with her Be Best initiative." Many raised eyebrows at the statement and believed the First Lady was siding with James, given her praise of his new elementary school and mention of Trump's 'Be Best' platform. You know, the campaign that unironically condemns cyber-bullying and preaches positivity on social media. But the First Lady quickly clarified her stance today. An unnamed senior White House official told ABC News that Trump wasn't siding with James, but rather siding with children despite children never being brought up in this feud. “That wasn’t her taking sides – that was her office stick to what she is focused on, which is using Be Best for what it intended – to help children,” the official explained. Okay Melania... Her husband wasn't always hostile with James. This tweet still exists after all: Ariana Yaptangco Social Media & Beauty Editor Ariana Yaptangco oversees all #content across ELLE's social media platforms and covers beauty news. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 07: U.S. first lady Melania Trump arrives in the Rose Garden to speak at the White House May 7, 2018 in Washington, DC. Trump outlined her new initiatives, known as the Be Best program, as first lady during the event. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 5: (AFP OUT) First Lady Melania Trump attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House March 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. The prime minister is on an official visit to the US until the end of the week. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images) LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 13: U.S. First Lady Melania Trump plays bowls she meets British military veterans known as "Chelsea Pensioners" at Royal Hospital Chelsea on July 13, 2018 in London, England. America's First Lady visited the Chelsea Pensioners while her husband, President Donald Trump, held bi-lateral talks with Theresa May at the Prime Minister's Country Residence. The Chelsea Pensioners are British Army personnel who are cared for at at the Services retirement home at The Royal Hospital in London. (Photo by Luca Bruno - WPA Pool/Getty Images) First lady Melania Trump arrives to board a plane at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Thursday, June 21, 2018, to travel to Texas to visit the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Viktor Knavs and Amalija Knavs, parents of US first lady Melania Trump, arrive at the White House with the first family on June 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. US First Lady Melania Trump announces her "Be Best" children's initiative in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, May 7, 2018. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) (CNN) — Melania Trump praised LeBron James for his charity work less than a day after her husband attacked the NBA superstar’s intellect in a tweet Friday night. The first lady’s spokeswoman on Saturday said Trump is supportive of James’ work with children. “It looks like LeBron James is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation and just as she always has, the First Lady encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today,” Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to CNN. “As you know, Mrs. Trump has traveled the country and world talking to children about their well-being, healthy living, and the importance of responsible online behavior with her Be Best initiative.” Grisham’s statement comes just hours after President Donald Trump posted a scathing tweet questioning James’ intellectual capacity. The President appeared to be responding to an interview James gave to CNN’s Don Lemon, which aired Friday night, in which the NBA superstar said he wouldn’t sit down across from the President if he were given the opportunity. The first lady, however, is apparently unaffected by the animus James has toward her husband, nor does she appear to be letting the President’s statement about James affect her own feelings on the matter. Grisham said Trump would even consider visiting the school that James opened last week in Ohio. “[The first lady’s] platform centers around visiting organizations, hospitals and schools, and she would be open to visiting the I Promise School in Akron,” said Grisham. This is not the first time the President’s wife has publicly expressed views or taken action that demonstrated an independent streak that has become somewhat of a calling card for her. In January, as headlines swirled about the President’s alleged dalliance with a porn star (something he denies), Trump broke with tradition and took a separate motorcade to the President’s State of the Union address on Capitol Hill rather than ride with him. A month later, during another instance of salacious headlines, she opted to go solo prior to departing for a trip with her husband. In choosing her official first lady platform, Trump picked something that involved teaching kindness on social media, something her husband clearly does not practice, even though she continues to face widespread criticism for that decision amid cries of hypocrisy. In March, she addressed critics head on, saying, “I am well aware that people are skeptical of me discussing this topic. I have been criticized for my commitment to tackling this issue and I know that will continue. But it will not stop me from doing what I know is right.” In June, the first lady visited two border states – Texas and Arizona – to see in person the consequences of the policy for undocumented immigrants that her husband’s administration was controversially enforcing. More recently, Grisham responded to CNN on the first lady’s behalf when a news story suggested the President was upset that the first lady was watching a cable news channel aboard Air Force One that he did not like. “Seems kind of silly to worry about what channel she watches (any channel she wants, by the way),” said Grisham.<doc-sep>NEW ORLEANS, LA - OCTOBER 28: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers prepares to play the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on October 28, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 19: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers attempts a layup over Ivica Zubac #40 of the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on March 19, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) (CNN) — Melania Trump’s split with her husband over NBA superstar LeBron James is the most glaring example of a growing trend: The President’s family and some top officials are adopting positions at odds with his most divisive statements. The public feud between King James and the imperious President is on one level a personal and even ideological clash between two of the richest, most famous entertainers in American life whose outsize images outshine the confines of the roles they currently play. But it is also offering new insight into the President’s unashamed willingness to launch attacks that touch on the most sensitive fault lines of American life, like race and freedom of expression, that even some of those closest to him find difficult to publicly defend. In recent days, Trump’s daughter Ivanka has said she does not share her father’s view that the press is the enemy of the people, only for the President to reinterpret her remarks for his 53 million Twitter followers. Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway echoed the comments of the President’s daughter Sunday. But only after Trump reinforced his attack in a way that made his daughter’s personal damage control effort last week look tame by comparison. “The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!” Trump tweeted from his vacation at his golf resort in New Jersey. Signs of a pattern In another big disconnect last week, the top intelligence and foreign policy officials delivered a stark warning about Russian election interference, only for Trump to undermine it hours later by railing against the Russia “hoax.” The internal dynamics of the Trump family are notoriously tough to understand, and involve a complex mix of characters locked into the trust and loyalty dynamics of the most self-sufficient clans in American politics and business. It could be that Trump’s wife and daughter and some top aides are fighting a battle to safeguard their own principles and beliefs within the eye of the Trump storm and carefully chose areas where they can distance themselves from the President to protect their own identities. A number of Trump’s allies may also be taking steps to preserve their own reputations if they want to remain in the public eye – both in business and in politics – after the Trump presidency is over. A more cynical interpretation of the events of recent days might be that Trump’s relatives and officials, by adopting more mainstream positions on certain issues, are carrying out a political strategy that can complement the President’s often wild interventions to please his base. For instance, the more moderate stances of Melania and Ivanka Trump and their independent profiles could be seen as an effort to take the edge of the President’s base-pleasing plays among suburban women voters, who will be crucial in the elections of 2018 and 2020. The show of force of top national security officials at the White House last week makes it possible for the White House to argue that it does take election meddling seriously, even though it has no control over Trump’s riffs on how it is all a Democratic “hoax.” Similarly, by adopting sanctions on Russia passed by Congress and allowing the sale of arms to Ukraine, the administration can argue that no White House has been tougher on Russia, despite Trump’s constant and puzzling cozying up to President Vladimir Putin in public. Still, such is the belligerent dominance of Trump’s personality, it’s quite possible that he will simply drown out any political positioning of those around him. There is often little momentum for action in Washington if a President is not on board – one reason why many people doubt the impact of countermeasures against Russia’s efforts to taint US democracy. And Trump’s enemies will argue that Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump and Conway are complicit by definition in the President’s rhetoric and have shown little capacity to moderate his views. The President’s daughter, for instance, was at his side as he traveled to Tampa, Florida, for a Tuesday night rally in which he torched the media and his supporters jeered journalists. At the very least, their differing positions reflect the reality that the President, as the fulcrum of the administration, is now sufficiently confident in his job that he is beyond influence from those around him even if they disagree with aspects of his rhetoric. King Donald versus King James The most jarring gap between Trump and those around him emerged this weekend, after the President’s attack on the newest, most famous member of the Los Angeles Lakers, who has just opened a school in Akron, Ohio, and has in the past been critical of the President’s views on race. The President fired off a tweet at 10.37 p.m. ET on Friday night after CNN re-aired an interview with James. “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!” Trump tweeted. Trump’s tweet will no doubt be justified by his supporters as fair game, since James has never shied from criticizing the President. Last September for instance, James called the President a “bum” and said that it was a great honor for championship winning teams to go to the White House until he showed up. But the tone of Trump’s tweet appeared to have troubling racial undertones. It was the latest occasion in which the President has appeared to cast doubt on the intelligence of African-American public figures. And by saying he preferred Michael Jordan to James, he was endorsing another star NBA athlete who has sometimes been criticized for not doing more in his career to highlight political, racial and social issues important to the black community. (Jordan later said through a spokeswoman that he supported James and that he’s “doing an amazing job for his community,” without directly addressing Trump’s comment.) Criticizing James after he had been publicizing his own public service also cast Trump in a poor light. And it may have forced the first lady’s hand, given that community service is at the center of her “Be Best” campaign. On Saturday, in the latest show of independence from the East Wing, her spokeswoman issued a statement that effectively distanced herself from her husband’s remarks, even saying she would be open to visiting the school James opened. “It looks like LeBron James is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation and just as she always has, the First Lady encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today,” said the statement issued to CNN. Trump targets the press Trump’s attacks on the media come as no surprise, and many Presidents have grumbled at their news coverage. But it’s still shocking to see a President of the United States making such an unapologetic assault on the Fourth Estate as part of an apparent strategy of discrediting sources of power that contradict his own preferred versions of reality.<doc-sep>
First lady Melania Trump praised NBA star LeBron James and said she is open to visiting his newly opened school, less than a day after President Donald Trump lashed out at him on Twitter. A statement from the first lady said James is doing "good things on behalf of our next generation," and compared his work to her childhood welfare initiative, "Be Best." James recently announced he opened a school for underprivileged children in his hometown. Trump attacked the three-time champion after an interview in which James said Trump uses sports to sow divisions among people in the US. First lady Melania Trump praised LeBron James less than a day after President Donald Trump lashed out at the NBA star on Twitter. She also said she is open to visiting the school for underprivileged children James recently opened in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, which he said in an interview that aired last week prioritizes a holistic experience for students. In the same interview, James said he thought Trump was using sports to sow division in the US. Trump trashed James and CNN host Don Lemon in a tweet late Friday. "Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon," the president tweeted. "He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!" Trump's tweet prompted an outpouring of defense for James, the latest of which comes from the first lady. In a statement released by her spokesperson Stephanie Grisham on Saturday, the first lady praised James, saying he "is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation," and said she "encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today." The statement also references her childhood welfare initiative, "Be Best", for which she "has traveled the country and world talking to children about their well-being, healthy living, and the importance of responsible online behavior." As a part of continuing her work, the statement says she "would be open to visiting" the I Promise School, which James established for students who are at risk of falling behind. Here's the full statement, via CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins: This is the second recent instance of the first lady has issuing a public statement that seems to counter the president. On July 25, Grisham replied to a report from The New York Times about the president's apparent anger that the first lady's TV aboard Air Force One was set to CNN, which Trump publicly attacks as "fake news." Though Grisham refused to comment on the report directly, she said the first lady watches "any channel she wants." Trump is holding a campaign-style rally in Lewis Center, Ohio on Saturday night.