Melania Trump has remained silent following Donald Trump’s conviction, but one of her former top advisers predicts she was not surprised by her husband’s behavior.
‘Melania knew exactly who she was marrying. She knew this was a transactional marriage. She became a top model. She became a loving father and that set them up to win the White House,” Stephanie Winston Wolkoff told CNN.
Wolkoff worked with Melania in the White House in the early years of the Trump administration. The two had a friendship dating back to their days in New York, but they parted ways during Trump’s presidency. They no longer speak and Wolkoff wrote a tell-all memoir about his time with the Trumps.
“I think he’s telling her exactly what he feels,” Wolkoff predicted of the former first lady.
She also said she hopes to see Melania at her husband’s sentencing on July 11, acting as a “distraction.”
‘I think she’ll show up and be the art of distraction. “She will shine a bright light on Melania when she is needed most, when other things going on in Donald’s life need to be overshadowed,” she said.
“I think she’s going to show up and be the art of distraction,” Stephanie Winston Wolkoff told CNN’s Abby Phillips when asked if Melania will attend Trump’s sentencing on July 11.
It is unclear where Melania Trump is. This time of year, the Trump family is usually camped out at their home on the former president’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Mar-a-Lago is closed for the season, but Melania has private rooms there where she could stay. Or it could be in Trump Tower in New York. Or it could be anywhere.
Melania’s office did not respond to DailyMail.com’s repeated requests for comment.
And it’s unclear when they’ll be able to see her again.
Meanwhile, Trump will be sentenced four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he will formally accept the Republican presidential nomination.
It is unclear whether Melania will attend the convention or address it as she did in 2016 and 2020. Barron Trump was originally selected as Florida’s delegate, but Melania later announced that she would not serve as such due to “prior commitments.”
He did not elaborate on what those commitments were. Barron Trump graduated high school earlier this month. The Trumps have not said where he will go to college or what his future plans are.
The former first lady has remained silent throughout the trial.
She and her son Barron are the only Trump insiders who did not appear in court with the former president or post messages of support on social media.
Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany made appearances in the courtroom. Ivanka Trump posted a four-word message on Instagram Thursday night in support of her father: “I love you dad.”
Melania Trump was last seen in public with her husband on May 17 at her son Barron’s graduation; Melania’s father, Viktor (left), also attended.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff and Melania Trump became friends in New York
Trump was found guilty of charges related to a bribe to porn star Stormy Daniels (above), who claimed to have an affair with Trump.
But the secret trial, in which Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, involved her husband paying porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her during the 2016 election over allegations of an affair.
Trump denies sleeping with Daniels, who he claimed happened in 2006, shortly after Melania gave birth to Barron.
But Trump’s fixer at the time, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 during the election to keep her quiet about the story.
When the payment was revealed in 2017, Melania was said to have been shocked.
She made her feelings known by canceling the interview with Trump, refusing to go with him to the World Economic Forum in Davos even though she was scheduled to attend. Instead, she camped behind the walls of Mar-a-Lago, her Palm Beach estate.
But Melania Trump was believed to be following media coverage of the trial. However, it was also believed that she saw it as her husband’s problem and not hers.
She was last seen in public with Donald Trump on May 17, when her son Barron Trump graduated from high school.