Back in March, shortly before Donald Trump was indicted by the Manhattan district attorney’s office for paying hush money to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election, a report emerged that Melania Trump wanted to “ignore” the whole thing, hoped it would “pass,” but didn’t “sympathize with Donald’s plight.” Now that her spouse has been indicted a second time, on arguably more serious federal charges, what is the former first lady thinking? According to a new report, more or less the same thing!
Sources told People that Melania “doesn’t want anything to do with any of it,” and while she wishes “these legal issues would go away,” she is in a been-there-done-that mode about the whole thing. After all, as People reports, she has “lived with other public humiliation for many years, including the sex scandals.” And she’s not about to let her husband’s problems become her problems. “Melania…prefers to go about her business,” a person familiar with the matter told the outlet, adding that the former first lady will not be dragged down. “She continues moving ahead,” the person said.
And while no one would have expected the famously mum Mel (who declined to appear at both of her husband’s arraignments) to defend him publicly, the reason most recently cited for her current silence is pretty incredible: She apparently knows how bad this case looks for Trump. “Although her husband feels the legal issues are witch hunts, she prefers to stay away from making many comments as some of the recent evidence, especially in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, is quite damaging,” a source told People, adding that the former first lady believes, based on the evidence, that Trump “has a rough road ahead.” (Melania, of course, is not alone in her thinking. After the federal indictment against Trump came out, his former attorney general, Bill Barr, called the charges “very, very damning,” adding: “If even half of it is true, then he’s toast.” Meanwhile, at least one Fox News legal analyst has predicted Trump is looking at a “terminal” prison sentence. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday, and not guilty to the Manhattan DA’s charges in April.)
As for a potential plea deal, a source “with knowledge about Melania’s frame of mind” suggested that Trump’s wife does not think think the presidential candidate should go there. “She wants his legal team to fight this to the end and hopefully end the fight,” this person said. Whether “the end” results in her spouse being moved into a federal penitentiary, of course, remains unclear; also unclear is whether or not Melania would be bothered by such an outcome. Last week, Page Six reported that a source said, “Melania knows what she signed up for. She is in a wait-and-see position. He’ll either be in prison or be president. Or both.”
Bess Levin
Source link
