Michelle Obama to Melania Trump: I'm here if you need me

"The door is open."
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

As CBS prepares to air a highly-anticipated interview between Oprah Winfrey and First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday night, the network released a clip in which Obama talks about her FLOTUS-to-FLOTUS outreach to Melania Trump.

In the clip, Obama talks about her interactions with Trump and how she drew on her own experiences with former First Lady Laura Bush during the 2000 transition.

During the interview Obama said:


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"My offer to Melania was, you really don’t know what you don’t know until you’re here, so the door is open, as I’ve told her and as Laura Bush told me and other first ladies told me. I'm not new in this going high thing. I am modeling what was done for me by the Bushes. And Laura Bush was nothing but gracious and helpful. Her team was right there for my team throughout this entire eight-year process. We will do whatever they need to help them succeed.”

She also indicated she plans to talk to the incoming First Lady even after the inauguration, saying, "You know, you don’t have questions the day after the election."

Obama added, "My door is open."

It was a more conciliatory tone than that of the first clip from the interview, released by CBS last week. In that preview, Michelle Obama said of Trump's election, "We feel the difference now. See, now, we are feeling what not having hope feels like."

Melania Trump and Michelle Obama met in early November, just days after the election, at the same time that President Barack Obama met with President-elect Donald Trump.

It also appears that Michelle, if she does continue to help Melania in her transition, will be talking to her into 2017 as it's expected Melania won't move in to the White House until her son Barron finishes his school year.

The full interview with the First Lady will air Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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