On eve of debate, Melania breaks her silence in recorded statement for Trump

Washington: She was nowhere to be seen as Donald Trump faced a six-week trial that eventually convicted him of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal.

She made a brief appearance alongside her husband at the Republican National Convention, shortly after the assassination attempt on his life, but then disappeared, yet again, from the public spotlight.

Melania Trump is introduced during the Republican National Convention on July 18.Credit: AP

But with less than two months until election day – and a new book to promote – Melania Trump has re-entered the campaign, hitting out at alleged attempts to silence her husband and seeking to dispel the lies she says she has faced as a former first lady.

In a short video posted on social media, the former US first lady declared that “the 2020 election results changed our lives forever” – and not for the better.

“It impacted our quality of life, cost of food, gasoline, safety and even the geopolitical landscape,” she says.

“America is more divided today than ever before. It has become increasingly apparent that there are significant challenges to free speech as demonstrated by the efforts to silence my husband.”

Donald and Melania Trump in 2016.Credit: Getty Images

The video only lasts for 37 seconds and features Melania’s voice and the words she recites, written in white italicised letters against a black backdrop.

But there is no image of the 54-year-old former fashion model, renewing questions about how much she is willing to campaign for Trump beyond the promotion of her new self-titled memoir, which will be released on October 8.

Melania teased the upcoming release of her book last week, in a dramatic black and white video in which she declared: “Writing this memoir has been a deeply personal and reflective journey for me. As a private person, who has often been the subject of personal scrutiny and misrepresentation, I feel a responsibility to clarify the facts.”

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump hold their crucial first televised debate this week.Credit: AP

But her latest post was a rare political intervention in defence of her husband, who also regularly complains about his free speech being stymied.

The 78-year-old Republican has repeatedly hit out about a gag order imposed against him during his hush money trial in New York, which was designed to stop him from intimidating witnesses.

He has also used the free speech defence to argue, unsuccessfully, that election interference charges against him in the swing state of Georgia should be dropped.

Melania, meanwhile, has remained largely out of the public eye since leaving the White House in early 2021 and is rarely on the campaign trail with Trump.

While she appeared with Trump at the convention, she resisted attempts by his aides to get her to speak at the event – in contrast to current first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, both of whom rallied the party faithful at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month and have regularly crisscrossed the country to campaign for their spouses.

Melania did, however, break her silence following the attempted assassination of her husband in Pennsylvania, issuing a powerful statement in which she recounted how a “monster” saw the former president as an “inhumane political machine” before opening fire.

Her latest video comes as both Trump and Harris prepare to face off on Tuesday night for the only planned presidential debate ahead of the 2024 US election.

The high stakes showdown comes as a New York Times/Siena College poll released this week has Trump leading Harris 48 per cent to 47 per cent, showing that the race remains neck and neck weeks after Biden’s decision to drop out.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.