US President Donald Trump left his supporters at a North Carolina rally startled when he unexpectedly spoke about his wife, Melania Trump's, undergarments.
The rally, intended to focus on economic issues such as inflation and lowering drug prices, briefly shifted away from policy. Describing the 2022 FBI raid at his Florida home, Trump said federal agents "went into my wife's closet" and "looked at her drawers," accusing them of messing with her wardrobe.
He went on to make unusually detailed comments about how the First Lady organises her wardrobe, saying she is "a very meticulous person" and that "everything is perfect".
"Everything is perfect. Her undergarments, sometimes referred to as panties, are folded perfectly, wrapped. They're, like, so perfect. I think that she steams them," he said.
The FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 was part of a federal investigation into the handling of classified documents after Trump left the White House. Trump has repeatedly criticised the raid, calling it politically motivated.
In February 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) said it had discovered that 15 boxes of official documents had been taken from Mar-a-Lago. According to NARA, these records should have been returned to the government when Trump left the White House at the end of his presidency.
Ahead of the midterm elections in 2026, Trump used his rally to outline plans to lower the cost of everyday essentials, including gas and healthcare. He also blamed the Biden administration for the economic challenges he said his administration had inherited.
Calling Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper "radical left" and a "disaster," Trump accused him of being weak on crime and blamed him for the slow recovery in Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
Trump, however, praised himself for the state's successes and blamed former President Joe Biden for any problems.
He said that since his inauguration, North Carolina had added 53,000 jobs, including 8,000 in construction, though Governor Josh Stein had earlier reported that 33,000 jobs had been added since January.
He also called the first year of his second term "the most successful year of any president in history," highlighting achievements like negotiating lower drug prices, working to reduce inflation, and creating more jobs.
