Who is Mira Ricardel and why has Melania Trump called for the senior White House aide to be sacked?

US first lady Melania Trump: Vincent Kessler/Reuters
US first lady Melania Trump: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

The office of the US first lady, Melania Trump, has taken the unprecedented step of calling for the firing of a member of her husband Donald Trump's senior staff.

Ms Trump’s communications director, Stephanie Grisham, issued an extraordinary statement urging the removal of Mira Ricardel, the president’s deputy national security adviser, from her role.

“It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honour of serving in this White House,” Ms Grisham said.

While sudden firings are a common occurrence within the Trump administration – with the president often accused of running the West Wing like an extended episode of his NBC reality show The Apprentice – the development poses an interesting question about the exact remit of the first lady’s authority.