WASHINGTON — Melania Trump has freedom over her own remote control.

Though the standard operating procedure on Air Force One now requires televisions on board to be tuned to Fox, the president’s preferred channel, Mrs. Trump ultimately has freedom over what she watches, the East Wing said Wednesday.

The statement was delivered in response to a report in The New York Times describing the president’s displeasure over Mrs. Trump’s television being tuned to CNN on the first couple’s recent European trip.

In a statement sent to CNN, the first lady’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said that it was “kind of silly” to ask what the first lady watches on TV, then added, in parenthesis, “any channel she wants.”

The statement is consistent with one message the East Wing has tried to drive home on behalf of Mrs. Trump over the past year and a half. She has repeatedly directed her aides to declare that she operates independently of her husband.