People are still fascinated – bizarrely fascinated – by this Melania Trump-Mira Ricardel story. From what I’m seeing, Ricardel really was fired, although it didn’t happen immediately after Melania’s office publicly torched her on Tuesday. According to the NYT, Ricardel did pack up her office on Wednesday, but she’s being transitioned over to some other position in the administration. Maybe. Ricardel was the deputy national security advisor, an important position within the National Security Council, and a driver of foreign policy and more. And Melania wanted her fired, allegedly because of Ricardel beefing with some members of Melania’s staff. The New York Times did a follow-up story on what really went down:

Aides pointed out that Ricardel was one of the highest-ranking female members of the administration, and that she had never met Mrs. Trump. It turns out she didn’t have to. A dust-up between Ms. Ricardel and several East Wing senior staff members before and during the first lady’s trip to Africa last month ended up eliciting Mrs. Trump’s attention, and the conflict led to an internal dispute that festered for weeks.

Among Ms. Ricardel’s offenses, three people familiar with the situation said, was a dispute over airplane seating — she wanted to have a say over who was given seats on the plane to Africa. She grew angry when a seat for a National Security Council staff member on the plane was pulled to accommodate journalists. Ms. Ricardel also withheld resources from the first lady before she traveled to Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Egypt last month, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Before and during the trip, Mrs. Trump’s senior staff members operated without logistical information, readily available policy documents or basic communication as they arrived in places where security could be tight and tense, and the movements hectic. They said Ms. Ricardel was the reason for the delay.

The episode so incensed Mrs. Trump that she brought up those infractions and others — including her belief that Ms. Ricardel was spreading negative stories about her and her staff — to John F. Kelly, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff. Complaints from Mrs. Trump and her aides made their way to the national security adviser, John R. Bolton, but the tension continued unaddressed until this week, when Mrs. Trump’s office all but called for Ms. Ricardel’s removal.

Mr. Trump was initially not happy to learn of the rogue statement issued by the first lady’s office, according to a senior administration official familiar with the president’s reaction. But he eventually came around. The president, that person said, is proud of his wife’s independent streak.

[From The NY Times]

Vanity Fair’s sources said that Donald Trump approved of Melania’s message too, and one source said: “The president called Johnny DeStefano today and said, ‘Get the bitch out of here or you’re gone.’” Which sounds like him. Donald Trump wasn’t upset at all that Melania so publicly burned a member of his national security staff. The Trumps LOVE palace intrigue and they love it when they’re acting out some kind of soap opera plotline. Now, all that being said, if Ricardel’s offenses against Melania and her staff were really this bad, then yes, I actually do think she should have been fired. It just shouldn’t have happened this way at all – Melania’s chief of staff should have gone to John Kelly and they should have worked it out between themselves instead of all this public drama.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.