佛罗里达州西棕榈滩-在...之后梅兰妮·特朗普错过了今年早些时候她丈夫竞选总统的关键事件——从2024年大选开始在爱荷华州唐纳德·特朗普的超级星期二胜利派对——记者问这位前第一夫人是否计划参加竞选活动。她的回答是:“敬请关注。”
但自从3月份她和唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在佛罗里达州的初选中投票后发表上述评论以来，梅兰妮·特朗普基本上没有公开露面。少数例外包括4月份的几个筹款活动和他们儿子的高中毕业典礼。
在这位共和党总统候选人长达一个多月的审判中，这位前第一夫人显然没有陪伴他。上个月她不在那里有罪判决或是第二天在特朗普大厦发表的言论。她也没有出现在6月14日78岁生日派对由他的粉丝俱乐部为特朗普组织，或在他最近几个月举行的任何竞选集会上。
俄亥俄大学研究第一夫人的历史学教授凯瑟琳·杰利森说，她在审判和其他重要时刻缺席是不寻常的。但杰利森说，也许这并不奇怪，因为梅兰妮·特朗普似乎不愿意遵循政治家妻子的传统公众角色。作为第一夫人，她也保持低调，她不是丈夫输掉2020年总统竞选的常客。
杰利森说:“但特朗普夫妇所做的一切似乎都违背了候选人和配偶的行为标准。”。
梅兰妮·特朗普的行为偏离了其他政治家对配偶的依赖。有时，男性政治家会求助于他们的妻子，试图吸引女性选民。候选人也可以让他们的配偶一起参加，这样可以让选民更多地了解候选人在政治舞台之外的情况。
例如，在今年的共和党初选期间，佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯的妻子凯西·德桑蒂斯(Casey DeSantis)与他同行，接受采访，并在他暂停提名前为德桑蒂斯组建了一个名为Mamas的联盟。Vivek Ramaswamy的妻子Apoorva Ramaswamy博士也参加了竞选活动，经常和他们的两个年幼的孩子一起谈论家庭的重要性。
美联社联系了最近参加过大型筹款活动或特朗普Mar-a-Lago庄园的15个人。没有人说他们在佛罗里达州的地产上遇到过梅兰妮·特朗普。
她的办公室没有回复记者的多次置评请求。她最近唯一的公开声明是在佛罗里达州共和党高调宣布18岁的儿子巴伦·特朗普被选为共和党全国代表大会和她的办公室的州代表两天后发表的说他来不了了援引先前的承诺。
特朗普重罪审判期间，纽约法院的记者反复问他，“梅拉尼娅在哪里?”但他一直没有回答。特朗普的盟友将他们儿子的学校日历列为她缺席的主要原因，但不否认这对家庭来说是一个微妙的时刻。
特朗普的律师托德·布兰奇(Todd Blanche)被问及是否有关于她陪同他出庭的会谈。
“这不是我想进行的讨论，”布兰奇在迈阿密出庭律师大卫·奥斯卡·马库斯的“为辩护”播客中回应道。“这是一个艰难的案件，因为指控的性质，进来的证据，历史，已经过去了多长时间。”
一些证词讲述了川普如何在2006年7月与色情演员斯托米·丹尼尔斯发生性关系，大约在梅兰妮·特朗普生下巴伦四个月后;特朗普否认了丹尼尔斯的说法。特朗普的前律师兼调解人迈克尔·科恩作证说，特朗普似乎并不在乎他打算埋葬的一次遭遇的故事会如何伤害他的婚姻，而是在乎它会损害他2016年的总统抱负。
但特朗普2016年的竞选通讯负责人霍普·希克斯作证说，特朗普在2016年担心他的妻子会如何看待与《花花公子》模特卡伦·麦克道格(Karen MacDougal)有关的故事，并希望她确保报纸不会送到他们的住所。
在她的丈夫被判34项重罪后，梅兰妮·特朗普没有在她的社交媒体账户上发布任何东西。这与特朗普的大儿子们形成了鲜明对比，他们迅速谴责了这一判决。女儿伊万卡·特朗普在Instagram上发布了一张她蹒跚学步时与小特朗普的照片，并写道“我爱你，爸爸”上个月，他的小女儿蒂芙尼·特朗普陪他去法院参加了庭审的结案陈词。
“我认为这对她来说很难，”特朗普在判决后接受福克斯新闻频道采访时谈到他的妻子。“我是说，她很好。但是，你知道，她必须读所有这些废话。”
尽管她没有参加竞选活动，但特朗普经常提到她，并分享两人的对话，向支持者展示她仍然在幕后参与，为前总统提供反馈。
“47俱乐部”粉丝团体的主席拉里·斯诺登说，他最后一次见到这位前第一夫人是在2月份由女性支持者团体“小号手”举办的一次晚会上。他说他从未和她有过一对一的互动，但当他在那里看到她时，她“如此迷人”
斯诺登说:“她非常高兴，她微笑着，对任何想上前和她握手的人都很友好。”。
斯诺登表示，他确实希望梅兰妮·特朗普在整个竞选过程中露面，并发表重要讲话，但他也认为这位前总统将“继续非常保护她”
Melania Trump stays out of the public eye as Donald Trump runs for president
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. --AfterMelania Trumpmissed key events in her husband's presidential bid earlier this year — from the kickoff of the 2024 electionin Iowato Donald Trump’sSuper Tuesdayvictory party — reporters asked the former first lady whether she planned to hit the campaign trail. Her response: “Stay tuned.”
But since making that comment in March, after she and Donald Trump voted in Florida's primary, Melania Trump has largely refrained from public appearances. The few exceptions have included a couple of fundraisers in April and their son's high school graduation.
The former first lady noticeably did not accompany the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on any of the days of his more than monthlong hush money trial in New York. She was not there last month for theguilty verdictor the following day for his remarks at Trump Tower. She also did not appear June 14 at a78th birthday partyorganized for Trump by his fan club, or at any of the campaign rallies he has held in recent months.
Her absence during the trial and for other important moments is unusual, said Katherine Jellison, a professor of history at Ohio University who studies first ladies. But Jellison said maybe it should not come as a surprise as Melania Trump seems reluctant to follow the traditional public role of a politician's wife. As first lady, she also kept a low profile and she was not a regular presence on her husband’s losing 2020 presidential campaign.
“But everything the Trumps do seems to be against the standard playbook of how candidates and spouses behave," Jellison said.
Melania Trump's behavior deviates from how other politicians have relied on their spouses. Sometimes male politicians turn to their wives to try to reach out to female voters. Candidates also may be joined by their spouses as a way of giving voters more of a sense of what the candidate is like outside the political arena.
During this year's GOP primary, for example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ wife, Casey DeSantis, traveled with him, granted interviews and formed a coalition named Mamas for DeSantis before he suspended his bid for the nomination. Vivek Ramaswamy's wife, Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy, also was on the campaign trail, often appearing along with their two young children to talk about the importance of family.
The Associated Press reached out to 15 people who have been in major fundraisers or in Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate recently. None said they had encountered Melania Trump on the Florida property.
Her office has not responded to several requests for comment. Her only public statement of late came two days after the Florida Republican Party announced with fanfare that son Barron Trump, 18, was chosen as a state delegate for the Republican National Convention and her officesaid he could not make it, citing prior commitments.
Reporters at the New York courthouse during Trump’s felony trial repeatedly asked him, “Where’s Melania?” but he never answered. Trump allies cited their son’s school calendar as the main reason for her absence without denying it was a delicate time for the family.
Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, was asked whether there were talks about her accompanying him to court.
“That wasn’t a discussion that I wanted to have,” Blanche responded, speaking to Miami trial attorney David Oscar Markus for his “For The Defense” podcast. "This was a tough case because of the nature of the charges, the evidence that came in, the history, how long it had been.”
Some of the testimony aired how Trump allegedly had sex with porn actor Stormy Daniels in July 2006, about four months after Melania Trump had given birth to Barron; Trump has denied Daniels' claim. Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen testified that Trump did not appear to care about how the story of an encounter he was looking to bury would hurt his marriage as much as he cared about it damaging his 2016 presidential aspirations.
But Hope Hicks, Trump’s 2016 campaign communications chief, testified that Trump was concerned in 2016 about how a story related to Playboy model Karen MacDougal would be viewed by his wife and wanted her to make sure newspapers were not delivered to their residence.
Melania Trump did not post anything on her social media accounts after her husband was convicted on 34 felony counts. That's in contrast to Trump's elder sons, who quickly condemned the verdict. Daughter Ivanka Trump posted on Instagram a photo of her as a toddler with a younger Trump and the message “I love you dad.” Tiffany Trump, his younger daughter, accompanied him to the courthouse last month for the trial's closing arguments.
“I think it’s very hard for her," Trump said about his wife, in an interview with Fox News after the verdict. "I mean, she’s fine. But, you know, she has to read all this crap.”
Despite her absence on the campaign trail, Trump often mentions her and shares conversations between the two, showing supporters that she is still involved behind the scenes by offering feedback to the former president.
Larry Snowden, president of the “Club 47” fan group, said he last saw the former first lady at a February gala hosted by the “Trumpettes,” a group of female supporters. He said he has never had a one-on-one interaction with her, but that when he saw her there, she was “so charming.”
“She was so happy, and she was smiling and accommodating anyone that wanted to come up and shake her hand or anything," Snowden said.
Snowden said he does expect Melania Trump to show face throughout the campaign and to make key speeches, but that he also thinks that the former president would “continue to be very protective of her.”
