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Why didn’t Melania and Ivanka Trump show up to the ‘Hush Money’ trial?
A look at the possible reasons Melania and Ivanka Trump were notable absent from Donald Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial.
Donald Trump has officially become the first former president to be charged and convicted of a criminal felony. The case centered around the falsification of business records to cover up a high money payment made to an adult film actress, Stephanie Clifford, during the 2016 presidential campaign. As rumors about a possible affair between Ms. Clifford and Donald Trump began to circulate, a payment was made to keep her from going public with the story.
According to The Guardian, Daniels met Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California, where she was hired to greet the competitors. Daniels has recounted that a Trump bodyguard invited her to dinner and that they later had sex in his hotel room despite the fact that he was married to Melania Trump. Daniels has also said they kept in touch for a while and that he offered her a role on his reality show ‘The Celebrity Apprentice.’ The actress claims that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, a year after he married Melania.
Why didn’t Melania Trump attend the trial?
During the trial, Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, who claims he made the payment to Ms. Daniels, testified that the action was taken to protect Melania Trump, who would have been hurt and humiliated by the affair becoming public. That also helps to explain why Ms. Trump was not in court to support her husband. Additionally, as the trial shows, the story did eventually become public, and reports at the time stressed the toll the news of the affair took on the couple while they were living in the White House.
Melania may be trying to keep her distance from the situation and avoid making it into an even larger media frenzy. This year was also Barron Trump’s senior year of high school, and it could be that Melania felt it was more important to be in Florida to support him in these final months.
What about Ivanka?
As for the former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, her absence from the courtroom did not go unnoticed. Since leaving the White House, it is clear that the relationship between the father and daughter has changed. After January 6th, Ivanka and Jared Kushner, who served as advisors to then-President Trump, separated themselves from him and confirmed that if he is re-elected, they will not be serving in the White House.