From the return of children to negotiations about Oleshky
Beckman represents Melania personally — the White House calls him the First Lady’s representative, and he calls himself her “exclusive senior advisor”. His name is not listed on the list of administration employees. He established contact with Kyiv and Moscow while working on the return of Ukrainian children from Russia and the occupied territories.
Melania’s team conducted these negotiations in the summer of 2025, and in October of that year the First Lady spoke publicly about them at the White House.
According to her office, on September 22, 2026, at the UN General Assembly in New York, Melania was told about the humanitarian crisis in Oleshky. She decided to intervene, and Beckman, through established contacts, began to negotiate a regime of silence and evacuation.
According to him, first the Ukrainian leadership agreed in writing to Melaniaʼs "exclusive mediation", then the Russian authorities gave the same consent.
On October 23, the White House reported the agreement on a ceasefire regime of in Oleshky. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized: "I repeat once again: the coordinating role belongs to Melania Trump."
Later, in an interview with the Kyiv Independent, Beckman said that Putin "very much wanted" to see the American first lady as the mediator. This was stated in an official letter that her team received.
Mark Beckman talks on “Newsmax” about the agreement on a ceasefire regime in Oleshky.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
Beckman initially built brands for designers and athletes. Then Melania became a major client
Beckman is a lawyer by training, but in the late 1990s he left law practice and launched the “Défilé” cosmetics line. Later he began to connect celebrities with brands — he arranged for stars to advertise the companiesʼ products or launch their own product lines with them.
In 2001, Beckman co-founded “Designers Management Agency” (the future “DMA United”). At first, the agency worked with young designers. It helped develop their brands: it promoted collections and negotiated cooperation with manufacturers and retail chains.
Over time, its clients included athletes, musicians and large companies. Beckmanʼs agency worked with “Sony” and “Mercedes-Benz”, fashion brands “Giorgio Armani”, “Karl Lagerfeld” and “Oscar de la Renta”, as well as film and music stars — Hilary Swank and Taylor Swift.
Beckman has worked with Melania for almost twenty years. In 2010, he helped her launch her line “Melania Timepieces & Jewelry” — a line of watches and costume jewelry priced between $30 and $200, inspired by her own jewelry. Melania showed them off on the American TV shopping channel QVC, and viewers could place orders right away.
The collection sold out in 45 minutes during the first broadcast.
Melania “Timepieces & Jewelry” is a line that Melania Trump launched with Beckmanʼs help in 2010.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
After Donald Trump’s first term, Melania and Beckman embarked on technology projects. In December 2021, she put up for sale a watercolor painting of her eyes with a short audio message.
For one unit of the “Solana” cryptocurrency — then about $150 — the buyer received the image, the recording, and an NFT: an electronic certificate with a record of the owner of the digital copy.
For the audio version of her memoir, which was released in May 2025, the company “ElevenLabs” used artificial intelligence to recreate Melania’s voice. Beckman promoted the recording, telling how she personally coordinated the pronunciation of words, every pause and breath, and called his client “the First Lady of technology”.
“She is my ally, my close friend, and, by far — my most important client,” he said in June 2025.
Mark Beckman interviews Melania Trump for his podcast “Some Future Day”.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
“Amazon” paid $40 million for the rights to "Melania". Congress suspected that the company was buying Trumpʼs favor in this way
Ministers, conservative bloggers and celebrities gathered at the Kennedy Center in Washington on January 29, 2026, for the premiere of the documentary "Melania". Guests were greeted by a black carpet, the first ladyʼs name was on windows, doors and even cocktail napkins.
The cover of her memoirs and the filmʼs poster were also designed in black and white. Beckman explained that Melania is building her own luxury brand.
He invited director Brett Ratner — the author of the action comedy “Rush Hour” with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker — to work on the film. With the movie “Melania”, Ratner returned to big cinema after a nearly ten-year break due to accusations of sexual harassment and violence by six women.
He denied these accusations, and immediately after the premiere he had to explain a photo with Jeffrey Epstein. Ratner claimed that it was a record of their only meeting, and they did not contact each other again.
Director Brett Ratner (left) and producer Mark Beckman at the world premiere of "Melania" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, January 29, 2026. Advertisement for the documentary film "Melania" in Piccadilly Circus in London, January 29, 2026. Melania Trump at the "New York Stock Exchange" during a promotional campaign for her film, January 28, 2026.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
The film showed twenty days in Melaniaʼs life before Donald Trumpʼs second inauguration in January 2025: she chose outfits, planned celebrations and prepared to return to the White House.
Beckman, as a producer, negotiated the sale of the rights. According to him, the team invited major streaming platforms to compete for the project. “Amazon” won “MGM Studios” with a bid of $40 million for the film and documentary series. The company spent another $35 million, according to CNN, on advertising. Images of Melania appeared on buses, in the subway and on a huge screen at the “Sphere” arena in Las Vegas.
The closest competitor — “Disney” — offered $14 million for the rights, but itʼs almost three times less. In March 2026, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Hank Johnson (both are Democrats) asked “Amazon” to explain the price.
According to their estimate, Melania would have received almost $28 million from the deal. Warren and Johnson suggested that “Amazon” was trying to buy President Trump’s favor. The company is interested in government contracts, tax and customs benefits, and favorable decisions in antitrust cases brought against it by American regulators.
“Amazon” denied the suspicions, and explained the price by access to the First Lady and the cultural and historical value of the project. Warren was not convinced by this answer: “It looks like a bribe in front of everyone.”
Melania and Donald Trump arrive at the world premiere of "Melania" in Washington, D.C., January 29, 2026.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
Beckman offered the US business with Russia, and in the negotiations about Oleshky he saw its "goodwill"
On the day of Trump and Putin’s meeting in Alaska, August 15, 2025, Beckman published a post titled “US and Russia in Alaska: It’s Just Business”. He proposed that the two countries work together to extract Arctic resources, develop trade routes, and build an 89-kilometer tunnel under the Bering Strait.
In his opinion, such projects could change the global economy and weaken the influence of the European Union. He mentioned Ukraine, which was discussed at the meeting, in parentheses at the beginning of the post: “They’ll deal with Ukraine later.”
The silence regime in the Oleshky area was supposed to begin on October 29, but it was introduced on October 27 at 3 AM Kyiv time. According to Beckman, the Russian military offered to start earlier in order to prepare for the delivery of aid and evacuation, and Ukraine agreed. He called it a "sign of goodwill".
In an interview with the Kyiv Independent, Beckman assured that all participants in the negotiations — "including the Russians" — were working in good faith. He explained his confidence by the fact that he himself has been participating in the negotiations and has long known the people who are conducting them.
The ceasefire for the delivery of aid and the evacuation of residents of Oleshky was extended to part of the Kherson region, October 30, 2026. Municipal workers clean up Kherson, where a curfew has also been declared, on October 30, 2026.
X / Dmytro Lubinets
"Neutral observers" from Trumpʼs friendʼs channel were taken to Oleshky by Russians
Beckman has made arrangements with “Newsmax” to cover the operation.
“We worked directly with the owner of ʼNewsmaxʼ,” he explained.
The channel is owned by Chris Ruddy, who has been friends with Donald Trump for over thirty years. Since July 2025, “Newsmax” has also partnered with Trump Media, the company that owns Trump’s social network “Truth Social”.
The trip also required the consent of Moscow, which controls access to occupied Oleshky. The four “Newsmax” reporters were publicly greeted by Putin’s special representative Kirill Dmitriev, and were driven to the city by the Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova.
Beckman called the journalists American observers: they were supposed to film, record the testimonies of residents, and document whether people could go where they wanted. He presented their presence as an additional guarantee of safe evacuation. Beckman told “Newsmax” viewers about Melania’s diplomatic achievements even before the negotiations about Oleshky.
In July 2026, on the channel’s air, he called her “the most influential first lady in the history of our country”, and compared the results of her work with the efforts of NATO and world leaders who failed to stop the war.
Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova and Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, October 30, 2026.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
The Popeʼs team was also negotiating a ceasefire in Oleshky in parallel with Beckman. On October 23, the Vatican recalled that in late September, papal envoy Matteo Zuppi had discussed the situation in the city in Moscow.
In mid-October, Pope Leo XIV asked Putin to cease fire, and later discussed this proposal with Zelensky. The day after the Vaticanʼs statement, Beckman assured on “Fox & Friends” that Melania had negotiated a ceasefire on her own, and the Pope had joined after her. The Kremlin also emphasized Melaniaʼs merits.
When a Russian journalist asked Peskov why Melania managed to negotiate about Oleshky, and the Pope did not, the spokesman explained this by her experience with the return of children and the US participation in negotiations to end the war.
Beckman shared the recording of this answer on his X account.
Melania also shared Russian commentary with her audience. On the day the ceasefire was reported, she shared without comment Peskov’s English-language statement, which was published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The spokesman praised her “significant contribution” and noted that her participation had been discussed between Trump and Putin. On her X account, Melania also shared a post by the Russian state-run TV channel RT, which referred to Oleshky as a town in the “Kherson region of Russia”.
In Russian reports, the help to the Oleshky is also presented as a merit of the American First Lady. For example, in the story of “Izvestia” from October 30, Russian sappers prepare the road for the convoy with aid, and the correspondent explains:
“The most difficult thing was to come to an agreement. We managed to do it with the mediation of the American side — the wife of the US President Melania Trump.”
The story then quotes Putin’s words — he notes Melania’s support in preparing the operation, and places the responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe on Ukraine.
Residents of occupied Oleshky near trucks with humanitarian aid and evacuation buses, October 30, 2026. Residents of Oleshky near a humanitarian convoy, October 30, 2026.
Facebook / Кирило Буданов
On October 30, Beckman appeared on “Newsmax” to thank Russia and Ukraine for implementing the plan for the “First Lady’s humanitarian mission”, and on the same day, “Newsmax” correspondent Shelby Wilder from Kyiv reminded viewers who created the need for rescue.
“Moscow wants to portray itself as the savior of civilians in a city it occupied, destroyed, and brought to a humanitarian crisis,” she explained to viewers. Wilder warned that the Russians were controlling journalists’ access, and that the residents they spoke to could be under pressure.
The next day, while waiting for her colleagues to return to Ukrainian-controlled territory, the journalist wrote to X that she had been taken off the air because of this inclusion, but she did not provide any other details.
On October 31, when the evacuees returned to Ukrainian-controlled territory, Melania wrote: “Oleshky prove that we can put humanity above war,” and called for building a peaceful world for children.
Beckman called the operation “a small wave of cooperation” between Russia and Ukraine that would grow into a “powerful WAVE OF PEACE”, noted the “courage, compassion, and leadership” of Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, who “will be remembered for generations”, and thanked Kirill Dmytriev for his “leadership in establishing and maintaining a ceasefire”.
On November 1, Melania wrote that the ceasefire had given the residents of Oleshky freedom of movement, access to food, clean water and medicine, and a sense of dignity without the constant threat of attack.
“Let Oleshky be the starting point for lasting peace,” she urged.
Beckman shared her post and quoted 48-year-old Oleshky resident Ivan Yevhenovych as saying:
“It was very difficult. There were a lot of drones, it was difficult to move around in the streets. Since the spring, there have been no basic products left.” The man also said that residents were dying every day from mines or drone strikes.
Beckman presented this story as evidence that the reason of suspension of [this situation] was a temporarily “First Lady Melania Trump’s truce”, but did not specify who had brought the town to this condition.
On the same day, he shared a post by pro-Trump blogger Vince Langman calling for Melania to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, adding his own comment NOW, and the word "NOW" was surrounded by doves.