The lights seem to never be lit and the blinds remain closed.
As the weeks go to the White House, the corner of the residence has long been used by the early ladies remains dark, because this first lady doesn’t really live in Washington.
Melania Trump disappears from sight by weeks, taking refuge on Trump Tower in Manhattan or Florida, where she can hide on sea-lame. Government officials say she is in the White House more often than the public knows, but when exactly, and how long, these authorities cannot (or may not) say for sure.
It’s like having Greta Garbo as a first lady.
Melania should reappear in the capital on Thursday to launch a postal seal in honor of Barbara Bush, the former first lady, and to participate in a ceremony for mothers of military. But two people with knowledge of Melania’s agenda said she spent less than 14 days at the White House since her husband took office 108 days ago. Others say that even this is a generous estimate. East and wing wing authorities have refused several comments requests for this article.
The fact that the whereabouts of the first lady is among the most delicate subjects of this white house only increases the intrigue.
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“We have not seen such a discreet first lady since Bess Truman, and that dates back to human memory for a long time, almost 80 years ago,” said Katherine Jellison, historian at Ohio University, whose research focused on first ladies. She said that, like Melania, Bess spent much of her time running back to “her base whenever she had a chance.” (In the case of BESS, it was Independence, Missouri.)
“She just liked her own private world,” said Jellison.
The same applies to this first lady. She hired employees to work for her in the East Wing, but rarely goes to the office. Even sea-lag goers say they don’t see Melania often there.
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Every wedding has its ups and downs, but, as with so many other things, Trumps are unique. In just a few months last year, the couple faced a public trial about Trump’s case, two murder attempts and a presidential campaign.
The trial, which involved the payment of bribery that Donald Trump paid to a porn actress, represented an especially challenging moment for the couple, according to two people with knowledge of the dynamics between them. Melania remained far from court in Manhattan and the campaign that gained strength in the following weeks.
The attempted murder of her husband during the summer – and a subsequent incident in which a shooter approached Trump in one of his golf fields – deeply scared a woman who had been concerned about her family’s safety, according to two people familiar with her thoughts. The first time President Trump took office in 2017, she was even concerned to get out of the car to participate in the parade.
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This time, at the White House, Trump took some functions that would normally fit a first lady. She is not the one who carefully selects the lamps for the White House residence, redesign Rose Garden, receives groups of tourists in the East Wing or organizes receptions for the month of the woman’s history. It is he who does this.
It has been a decade that husband and wife have come down together for that golden escalator towards national political life. Now he has come to a moment when he is full of power and self -confidence as never before. And yet, as it expands, it cries.
Trump share a common approach to public office. Both know how to profit from the exhibition. In January, Melania launched her own cryptocurrency. “You can buy $ Melania now,” she wrote on social networks a day before her husband’s second inauguration.
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And there is also the agreement she closed with Amazon, estimated at about $ 40 million, for a documentary that offers a “behind the scenes” view of her life as a first lady.
What can this show? It’s hard to say exactly.
“You serve the country”
Melania waited for months to move to the White House last time. But this happened because his son was only 10 years old, and his mother devoted the time necessary to organize his education and the transition to a new city. At that time, Melania’s parents were ubiquitous in the White House as she learned to deal with this role. Melania’s mother, Amalija Knavs, died in January 2024. Currently Melania spends a lot of time with her father, Viktor.
Barron Trump is 19 now. He is completing his first year at New York University and is increasingly independent. Still, there is a part of Melania that remains attached to the maternal and protective role she plays in her life, people say around her.
“You know, I feel that, like children, we have them until the age of 18, 19,” Melania told Fox News in a rare interview she gave in January, before her inauguration. “We teach them. We guide them. And then we give them wings to fly.”
They asked her where she planned to spend most of her time in this term.
“I’ll be at the White House,” she replied. “And you know, when I need to be in New York, I’ll be in New York. When I need to be in Palm Beach, I’ll be in Palm Beach. But my first priority is, you know, be a first lady, be a wife. And when we get there, on January 20, you will serve the country.”
Since Melania is rarely seen or heard, sometimes she appears offer a glimpse of how she sees her role. Some of their choices are aligned with the traditional first lady’s duties-to some extent.
She was with her husband to chair an Easter event at the White House last month, but even that raised ethical and legal questions after it was revealed that corporate sponsors were allowed to contribute. (All the money raised would be destined to the White House Historical Association, a non -profit private educational organization founded by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961.)
On April 1, she spoke in the State Department for the awards of international women of courage, the first time she was seen in public in Washington in weeks.
In the White House, the first lady hired her own team in the east wing. But what to do when the boss does not appear in the office? “We had the honor of receiving these young curious gardeners at the White House last week!” Says the subtitle of a recent video posted on the “First Lady of the United States” or “First Lady of the United States”) Instagram.
But flotus itself does not appear in the video. It is unclear if she was even there. Filming teams have been seen surrounding melania lately.
But mostly Amazon’s documentary about his life is, as well as his theme, wrapped in mystery. Hollywood documentary artists and executives say the $ 40 million Amazon would have paid for the documentary, of which Melania is an executive producer, represent dozens of millions of dollars more than such projects would normally surrender. Amazon has refused several commentary requests for this article, as well as film director Brett Ratner.
Just as the presence of Melania can make the vision interesting, your absence can too.
When the first group of tourists was led by the East Wing, it was Trump who appeared to surprise them. “The first lady worked hard to make her perfect,” he told the group. But she wasn’t there. During Trump’s first term, Melania replaced and restored Rose Garden. In this term, the president plans to pave the place to turn it into a courtyard so he can receive outdoor guests. Melania was initially bothered by her husband’s plan, according to two people informed on the subject. Since then, she has received guarantees that the roseiras will be preserved.
She also convinced herself of the idea of the ballroom that he insists on building at the White House – after they told him that the construction would not be very close to the residence.
A person who has known Melania for a long time is Paolo Zampolli, a former agent of Italian models who first saw her in Milan in the 1990s. The Trumps say it was Zampolli who first presented them in 1998 at the Kat Kat Club in Manhattan. It refers to melania reverently as “the lady.” Any thorough questions about the absence of the lady in Washington, he said, were unfounded. “She loves the White House,” he insisted, “and loves the role of serving as our first lady.”
When the president makes his big trip around the Middle East next week for Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, the first lady should not go with him.
But she accompanied him to the Vatican City to Pope Francis’ funeral.
When they landed back in Newark on Saturday afternoon, it was Melania’s 55th birthday. The president gave him a kiss on the face. She got into the car, he got into Marine One and they followed separate paths.
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