Melania Trump lashes out at speculation over absence from Donald Trump arrest

Melania lashed out at speculation over her absence as Donald Trump faced charges over alleged hush-money payments to cover up porn star affairs and secret love child claims.

Melania Trump has lashed out after a week of speculation over her conspicuous absence from Donald Trump’s side as her husband faced charges of alleged hush money payments to porn stars.

The former First Lady, as well as Ivanka Trump, were notable absences during Trump’s return to New York to face 34 counts of falsifying business records over three pay-offs to porn star Stormy Daniels, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, and a Trump Tower doorman during the 2016 presidential campaign.

In a tweet from the Office of Melania Trump, she hit back at speculation that her silence and absence were pointed rebuke of her husband’s alleged activities that led to the unprecedented indictment of a former president.

“News organisations have made assumptions about the former First Lady’s stance on subjects that are personal, professional, and political over the past few weeks,” the tweet said. “In these articles, unnamed sources are cited to bolster the author’s claims.

Mrs Trump was seen with Mr Trump for the first time since his arrest having Easter brunch and chatting at Mar-a-Lago. Before that, the couple were seen having dinner the night the indictment was announced. Niece Mary Trump said her reduced profile after that would be part of her effort to distance herself from Mr Trump’s alleged affairs.

We ask readers to exercise caution and good judgment when determining whether or not stories concerning the former First Lady are accurate, particularly when they fail to cite Mrs. Trump as a source of information.

— Office of Melania Trump (@OfficeofMelania) April 11, 2023

“I understand that Melania and Donald very publicly had dinner together the night of the indictment announcement,” Ms Trump said. “But I don’t think that Ivanka or Melania are going to want to be very involved in this, neither one of them will be vocal about it, and I think Ivanka made her choice a long time ago to go her separate way.”

Trump left Mar-a-Lago for New York last week joined by Eric Trump and an entourage of campaign support staff, including senior campaign adviser Jason Miller, spokesman Steve Cheung, former White House aide Dan Scavino, and lawyer Boris Epshteyn.

Ms Trump was neither on the private jet to New York, nor at the post-arrest Mar-a-Lago speech after her husband returned to Florida.

Her office, however, suggested nothing could be read into her absences unless Mrs Trump herself confirmed or denied her motivations.

“We ask readers to exercise caution and good judgment when determining whether or not stories concerning the former First Lady are accurate, particularly when they fail to cite Mrs Trump as a source of information,” they said.

MELANIA’S EASTER HINT

Melania Trump has broken her silence and made her first public comment her husband Donald Trump’s indictment and arrest.

“Happy Easter!” the former first lady tweeted above a photo of a pink rose, the first time she has posted something online since the case against Trump went to court last week.

Melania was notably even absent from her husband’s post-arraignment speech at their Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last week, and the former president made no mention of his wife during his speech, but did thank his children for their support.

Melania Trump has sent an Easter message to her Twitter followers. Source – https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP

“I have a son here who’s done a great job and I have another son here who’s done a great job; and Tiffany, and Ivanka,” Trump said in his speech.

“And Baron will be great someday. He’s tall and smart. But I have a great family and they’ve done a fantastic job and we appreciate it very much.”

Her social media post was quickly followed by her first appearance in public in 10 days, when she joined Trump for brunch at Mar-a-Lago, which is a tradition for them on Easter Sunday.

The couple walked into Mar-a-Lago’s ballroom to a standing ovation from the crowd, videos posted online showed. The couple sat alone together with red velvet ropes blocking off their large table from the rest of holiday goers.

The former first lady was seen chatting with Trump, and appeared to be speaking closely to her, leaning towards him as she did so, leaning in close to talk with him as they ate.

Melania and Donald Trump are seen having brunch on Easter Sunday at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Meanwhile, in a social media post of his own, Trump wrote an all-caps message posted on his Truth Social site, “Happy Easter to All” — including “weak & pathetic RINOS [Republicans in Name Only]” and “radical left Democrats, socialists Marxists, & communists” and others who oppose stricter border security and voting laws.

“HAPPY EASTER TO ALL, INCLUDING THOSE THAT DREAM ENDLESSLY OF DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY BECAUSE THEY ARE INCAPABLE OF DREAMING ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE,” Trump said.

It comes as the donations flow to Trump for his 2024 bid to reclaim the presidency – with former rivals conceding his arrest has probably made him more electable.

He raised a record $USD10 million in the six days after the indictment was announced, according to campaign senior adviser Jason Miller. Notably, more than 25 per cent were said to be from first-time and small-money donors with an average contribution of $USD34.

Former US President Donald Trump and Melania Trump.

Those numbers were posted before the former president appeared in court. While he didn’t have an official police photo taken, T-shirts emblazoned with a mock mugshot, captioned with “NOT GUILTY” and the faux prisoner number of 45-47 04 04 2023 – representing the so-called 45th and 47th president, plus the date of his arrest – quickly went viral. The $US47 price tag put it firmly in that grassroots Goldilocks zone of small-money donors.

“If I were a Democrat, I might well report Alvin Bragg to the Federal Election Commission for making the single greatest in-kind contribution to a presidential campaign in history,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who narrowly lost to Trump for the Republican party’s nomination in 2016, said.

“I think this is an enormous political gift to Donald Trump,” he said.

Originally published as Melania Trump lashes out at speculation over absence from Donald Trump arrest