When Donald Trump was charged last year by the Manhattan District attorney’s office for allegedly trying to cover up the hush money payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels, Melania Trump made her feelings on the situation pretty clear by opting not to attend his post-arraignment speech, despite it occurring at her own house. What are the former first lady’s thoughts on the matter one year later, with the trial now officially underway? According to a new report, they appear to have evolved—but only slightly.
The New York Times’ Katie Rogers, who wrote a book on first ladies, reports that Melania has privately called the legal proceedings “a disgrace,” and believes, per the Times, that “the trial itself is unfair,” according to people familiar with the matter. She apparently also shares the ex-president’s opinion that the case amounts to election interference. Yet it appears that the former first lady’s feelings with regard to the alleged affair her husband had—which he has long denied—have not changed. Per the Times:
In January 2018, when she first saw reports that her husband had paid off a porn star, Melania Trump was furious…. She canceled a trip to Davos, Switzerland, with Mr. Trump, made an impromptu visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and then she jetted off to Mar-a-Lago, the Trumps’ beachside fortress in Palm Beach, Fla., where she spent part of her trip relaxing at the spa. She eventually reappeared, only to take a separate car to Mr. Trump’s State of the Union address and appear on the arm of a male military aide.
As a criminal trial against Mr. Trump opened on Monday, on charges that he had falsified records to cover up that sex scandal involving Stormy Daniels, Mrs. Trump did not appear. She has long privately referred to the case involving Ms. Daniels as “his problem” and not hers.
As Rogers reported in her book, American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, From Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden, Melania’s former press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that Melania “was pissed at Trump” when she first learned of the hush money payment, and “wanted him to be a little humiliated” that she canceled the Davos trip and skipped town. In addition to not showing up for the first (or second) day of the criminal trial this week, the former first lady has also been largely absent on the campaign trail, including during Trump’s Super Tuesday victory party—which, like the post-indictment speech last April, was also conveniently held at her house.
Obviously, it would be a good look for Trump if his wife appeared with him in court, or defended him in any way—and according to her former press secretary, Melania seems to know it. “At the end of the day, she can make or break his candidacy,” Grisham told the Times. “And at the end of the day, she could probably make or break him.”
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