Rolling Stone Writer Speculates Why Melania is Missing, Says She's 'Concealing Abuse' of Husband
A Rolling Stone writer speculated Sunday that the reason first lady Melania Trump has not been seen in public since the middle of May is because she is a victim of spousal abuse.
“I wish that I didn’t suspect that the prolonged, poorly explained public absence of Melania Trump could be about concealing abuse,” tweeted Jamil Smith, a senior writer with the Rolling Stone.
“I wish that it was a ludicrous prospect. I wish that the @POTUS wasn’t a man with a history of abusing women, including those to whom he is married.”
I wish that I didn’t suspect that the prolonged, poorly explained public absence of Melania Trump could be about concealing abuse. I wish that it was a ludicrous prospect. I wish that the @POTUS wasn’t a man with a history of abusing women, including those to whom he is married.
— Jamil Smith جميل كريم (@JamilSmith) June 3, 2018
The latter allegation of spousal abuse appears to be in relation to President Donald Trump’s first wife, Ivana Trump.
The New York Times reported that journalist Harry Hurt III in his 1993 book “Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump,” described a night in which Trump raped his then wife in a fit of rage.
However, Ivana Trump disputed this account, telling The Times in a statement, “I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited toward me, was absent” concerning the incident in question.
“During a deposition given by me in connection with my matrimonial case (when the two were getting divorced in the early ’90s), I stated that my husband had raped me,” Ivana Trump told the newspaper. “I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”
Smith’s tweet on Sunday came following reports that Melania Trump did not plan to accompany her husband to the G7 Summit in Quebec this week or to his planned summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un early next week.
The Hill reported that the first lady does plan to join her husband at an event at the White House honoring Gold Star families on Monday evening.
Melania Trump said in a tweet last week the media is wasting time with speculation about her absence from the public spotlight.
“I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I’m doing,” she tweeted. “Rest assured, I’m here at the @White House w my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!”
I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I'm doing. Rest assured, I'm here at the @WhiteHouse w my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) May 30, 2018
In response to a Politico piece published last Tuesday, CNBC correspondent Eamon Javers reported that he saw Trump with her aides in the West Wing that very day.
Not that this will deter the conspiracy theorists, but I saw the First Lady walking with her aides in the West Wing yesterday afternoon. https://t.co/N9xadq7P0d
— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) May 30, 2018
When someone responded that he needed to be quicker with his camera, Javers shot back it was in a secure area of the West Wing, where reporters are not permitted to take pictures.
I did see her here with her aides and Secret Service agents, but it was in an area of the West Wing where we are not allowed to take pictures. It’s a high security environment!
— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) June 1, 2018
Among the theories Politico chronicled in its story were that the first lady left the White House and has moved back to New York City, she’s cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, or perhaps she underwent plastic surgery.
On May 14, the White House announced Melania Trump underwent minor kidney surgery at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Forgive me, but did she not recently undergo surgery? And haven’t at least two journalists stated publicly that they’ve seen her in the last few days at the WH? https://t.co/0hB8W8vpsh
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) June 4, 2018
Trump was released from the hospital on May 19, but had not been seen at any public events since.
The president visited his wife multiple times during the week she was at Walter Reed.
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