Influential in private but absent in public. How Melania Trump is choosing her moments in this mandate

Melania Trump had not been seen in the White House for over a month. But as her husband was preparing for a high-risk summit in Alaska with her Russian homologist, in search of the end of the war in Ukraine, the first lady was practicing diplomacy.

“Dear Putin President,” Melania wrote in a direct appeal to the Russian President. “All children share the same quiet dreams in their hearts, whether randomly born in the rustic field of a nation or in the center of a magnificent city. They dream of love, possibilities and safety against danger.”

The speech stressed – those who know and observe the first lady – the discreet but influential role she has played in Donald Trump’s second term as president, despite her physical absence of Washington.

The first lady is rarely seen in public. He did not follow her husband when he handed his letter to President Vladimir Putin during the summit in Anchorage, nor was he present at the White House days later when he received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders. To date, he made only 19 public appearances in this term, compared to 40 in the previous one. Your people in the East Wing is a fraction of the team of your first term and your predecessors.

But Melania often communicates with Donald Trump, often through text messages or called exchanged throughout the day, according to sources familiar with the subject. And, like her husband, the first lady consumes a constant news coverage diet. According to Donald Trump, Melania Trump has shown a healthy dose of skepticism after previous conversations with Putin.

I said to the first lady, “You know, I spoke to Vladimir today – we had a wonderful conversation.” She repted, ‘Oh, really? Another city has just been hit, ‘said Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Room in July with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

The moment offered a rare window to the way Trump communicates.

“I think a lot of people underestimate the fact that they are a normal couple. (…) He hears her and asks him advice,” says a source familiar with the dynamics, which asked anonymity to speak freely. “She just gets into when she really has to fight for something – and really worry about the children.”

Melania Trump’s office did not respond to several requests for information from CNN.

An influence behind the scenes motivated by children

In his letter to Putin, Trump referred obliquely to the “darkness” around the children affected by war, telling the Russian leader that he has the power to “restore his melodic laughter alone.”

It did not specifically mention Ukraine, but thousands of Ukrainian children have been allegedly kidnapped by Russia since the beginning of the war.

The president’s recent comments about his wife’s strong reactions to seeing the war on television raised criticism from the Russian state media, but also generated gratifying memes “Agent Melania Trimpenko” in Ukraine. After his letter to Putin, Zelensky handed Donald Trump a letter from his wife to the US first lady.

Melania Trump has not taken any public position on Ukraine or Gaza, but the reactions – as described by the president – offered a kind of verification of reality about the wars he promised, but so far failed, ending.

“She thinks it’s terrible,” said Donald Trump last month about the images coming from Gaza, that Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu denied hunger.

“And she sees the same images you see, we all see. And I think everyone, unless it’s very cold – or worse than that, crazy – there is nothing to say beyond what’s terrible when you see children.”

The guiding thread has been the threat to children.

“Mrs. Trump has been consistent with her focus on children’s security and future,” explains Anita McBride, former chief of staff of the first lady Laura Bush and director of the legacy initiative of the first ladies of the American University.

Melania Trump also addressed his letter to Putin based on his unique past: he was born in the then Communist Yugoslavia in 1970.

“Melania brings another level of credibility for growing in Europe under the control of Russian aggression before successfully gaining the freedom of her country,” adds McBride.

And his commitment is not devoid of precedents: McBride noted that Nancy Reagan spoke directly to the president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to seek peace and wrote to his wife on the eve of an important meeting. Jackie Kennedy wrote to the Soviet Union Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev, expressing hope of peace after her husband’s death. And Laura Bush addressed journalists in the White House meeting room, admonishing Myanmar’s regime after a deadly cyclone.

“The early ladies have a unique moral authority. (…) I applaud Mrs. Trump for using his platform in this way in things that are important – especially at this critical moment in world history,” says McBride.

Children’s issues have also motivated Trump’s limited involvement in domestic policy – from defending legislation against Deepfake porn and revenge to a $ 25 million investment for adopted young people that the White House says it has secured the president’s budget. This interest also influenced the way it chose to embrace the public role of first lady. Last month, for example, it comforted young women affected by catastrophic floods in Texas Hill Country, where he received a friendship bracelet and prayed with campers.

“She is genuinely concerned about the tragedy and the things involving children. I believe in her authenticity when she participates,” Kate Bennett, former CNN journalist who covered the first lady and author of “Free, Melania”.

Still, Trump’s use of its huge platform is selective – marking a removal of most of its predecessors.

“People expect or anticipate that there will be a participation in the name of the United States first lady, no matter who is in office, no matter the political party,” says Bennett.

“It is evident that for Melania Trump, at least for now, this has been a role of choice.”

Where does Melania go

A fundamental part of this choice, this time, has been a relative absence of Washington.

Trump divides his time between New York and Palm Beach, with intervals of weeks between his travels to the capital of the country. His last known presence in the White House was on July 11, when he left with the president for a trip to Texas.

During her husband’s first term, she only announced her full -time residence at the White House in June 2017. This year, with her son Barron at New York University, her appearances have been much less regular.

He was with her husband in more than a dozen public events, joined him in a pair of digressions after extreme climate damage and organized three solo events. But it was seen in public less than half of the days when it was at the same time as the president’s first term, when he attended several meetings in the Oval Room and press conferences with world leaders and tried to seven countries.

And it did not participate in the symbolic moments traditionally frequented by its predecessors, such as the inauguration of a flag mast and the plantation of magnolias on the White House land. Her husband even supervised the renewal of a paved and reimaginated Rose Garden, and the presidential wing unilaterally announced plans for an expansion of the East Ala Ball Lounge worth $ 200 million, which will have a direct impact on the first lady’s team office space.

“I don’t think it is something interpersonal,” reveals the family source to CNN, adding, “It’s just – she’s not interested” in the pitfalls.

In recent weeks, the journalist made a significant effort to protect her reputation, threatening a lawsuit against those who tried to connect her to Jeffrey Epstein and get a retraction and an apology from Daily Beast.

In Washington, it has a reduced team compared to the first term team, which had about 11 employees.

On July 1, the first lady had five full-time employees, according to a report sent to Congress, whose salaries totaled $ 634,200 a year. A key function, that of White House Social Secretary, which plans and coordinates all official and personal social events of the White House, continues to fill.

A similar report, sent on July 1, 2024, reflected more than 20 employees working at the Jill Biden First Lady Office, whose salaries totaled almost $ 2.5 million a year. Michelle Obama had 12 full -time employees in July 2016.

In a rare interview with Fox News before her husband’s return to office, Melania Trump said she did not want to “hurry” the signings and wanted to ensure that her employees were “at my service” and not to the service of her own agenda – perhaps reflecting some apprehension after important employees followed the attack on January 6, 2021 to the US capitol.

This hesitation can result from a series of public betrayals by former employees, including Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a long-standing friend and senior counselor who secretly recorded first lady cassettes and wrote a memories book about his relationship.

Former cabinet chief Stephanie Grisham, who resigned on January 6, witnessed to the House panel that investigated the attack and eventually supported Kamala Harris at the 2024 National Democratic Convention.

But without a substantial team, Trump has not yet defined any new political goals or expansion of his first term “Be Best” campaign. It did not participate in any soil trip abroad or in the country. It did not announce plans for any official state visits to the White House.

However, their recent comments – albeit indirect – on two intractable conflicts gave evidence of their influence.

“When she speaks, people hear – and whether or not it is due to being so frequent, I’m not sure, but she definitely has a platform. She must lean on that,” says the family source.