Status: 04.01.2024, 22:33 p.m.
By: Bettina Menzel
CommentsPrint Share
Former U.S. First Lady Melania Trump in 2019 (archive image). © IMAGO/Sammy Minkoff
Donald Trump is in the middle of campaigning for the 2024 US presidential election, but his wife Melania is appearing less and less in public.
Mar-a-Lago – Former first lady Melania Trump made her last public appearance on December 15 last year and has not been seen in public since. She was absent from the Trump family's Christmas photo as well as from a New Year's Eve event. Now former US President Donald Trump has declared her whereabouts.
Donald Trump talks about Melania's disappearance from public view
Since Donald Trump is no longer president of the United States, his wife Melania has rarely appeared in public. In her last public appearance in December of last year, the former first lady took part in a naturalization ceremony, of all things. Given her husband's hardline anti-immigrant stance, political observers thought this was an interesting choice of events. At a New Year's Eve event, Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election as US president, commented for the first time on the whereabouts of his wife.
"Melania — great first lady, so popular people love her," the Republican said. His wife is unable to attend because "she is now in a hospital with her mother. Her mother, Amalija, is very sick, but hopefully she is recovering," Trump said. "Hello to the First Lady, we just spoke, she's down in Miami – great hospital. Hopefully everything will be ok, but it's really, really difficult," the ex-president said on New Year's Eve. He hoped that Melania's mother would soon get better. According to reports, Melania wants to participate more often in public appearances in the future to support her husband in the election campaign.
Trump is ahead in the polls, but has numerous legal problems
Donald Trump has a good chance of being re-elected as President of the United States. Within the Republican Party, the real estate mogul is currently considered by far the most promising candidate. Trump is also ahead of incumbent Joe Biden in polls for the 2024 presidential election, albeit just barely. Race to the White House sees the Republican at 44.8 percent of the vote, while Biden currently has 43.5 percent. According to Decision Desk HQ/The Hill, the gap is even smaller, according to which Trump would get 44.3 percent of the vote, Biden would get 44.1 percent (as of January 4, 2024). In the U.S., the president is not directly elected by the electorate, but by electors.
Trump, however, has numerous legal problems. The Republican is the first ex-president in U.S. history to be indicted. The list of accusations against him is long, ranging from hush money payments, to secret documents taken with him, to attempts to influence the election. In a sensational decision in December, the Supreme Court in the state of Colorado ruled that the ex-president was not allowed to participate in his party's presidential primaries in Colorado because of his role in the storming of the Capitol.
My news
Friendly fire from Putin's miracle weapon: Russia's army shoots down its own fighter jet over Crimea
"Hammer and chisel": Ex-Bundeswehr general talks himself into Ralesen because of "Leos" of the Ukrainians
Putin's bomber burns down on tarmac: rumours bring Ukraine's secret service into the gameRead
Habeck intercepted on holiday return – demonstrators try to storm ferryread
Fighter jets for Ukraine: F-16 program gets a new boostRead
U.S. confirms: Russia uses North Korean missiles against Ukraine for the first time
On Wednesday, Trump asked the Supreme Court in Washington to overturn his exclusion from the presidential primary in the state of Colorado. A response is still pending. Whether the decision from Colorado can influence the presidential election depends on the Supreme Court as well as the other US states. In addition to Colorado, the state of Maine had also disqualified Trump for the primaries. Elsewhere, lawsuits are still pending. On January 15, the U.S. primaries begin with the first Republican vote in the state of Iowa (bme with dpa).