Are Trump and Melania separated? Biographer makes bold claim, White House responds
Michael Wolff claimed Donald Trump and Melania are essentially “separated.” Steven Cheung slammed Wolff, calling him "a blithering idiot." So, where is Melania?
Journalist and author Michael Wolff has claimed that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are essentially "separated," citing her extended absences from the White House.
Appearing on The Daily Beast podcast Tuesday, Wolff responded to reports that Melania has spent fewer than two weeks at the White House since Trump’s second inauguration on January 20.
"They clearly do not in any way inhabit a marriage as we define marriage," Wolff said, suggesting further, “I think maybe we can more specifically say they live separate lives. They are separated. The President of the United States and the First Lady are separated.”
White House Responds
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung slammed Wolff in a statement to The Independent, calling him “a blithering idiot” and claiming he has been “widely discredited due to his blatant lies and fabrications.”
“He is an imbecile of the highest order and his Trump Derangement Syndrome-addled brain has caused him to lead a miserable existence devoid of reality,” Cheung said.
Wolff is the author of several best-selling books on Trump, including 2018’s ‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.'
His latest book, ‘All Or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America,’ was published in February this year.
Where is Melania Trump?
Wolff’s comments came just days after The New York Times reported that Melania had spent fewer than 14 days at the White House since the start of Trump’s second term.
Katherine Jellison, a historian and first lady expert, told the Times: “We haven’t seen such a low-profile first lady since Bess Truman, and that’s going way back in living human memory, nearly 80 years ago.”
Also Read: Donald Trump takes over first lady duties, redesigns Rose Garden and greets tours as Melania MIA
Before her husband’s return to the presidency, Melania signaled that she would be dividing her time between Washington, Mar-a-Lago in Florida, and New York City, where their son Barron is now a freshman at NYU.
"I will be in the White House. And when I need to be in New York, I will be in New York. When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach,” Melania said in a Jan. 13 interview on Fox & Friends. “My first priority is to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife."
While largely absent from day-to-day political life, Melania has made a few public appearances during her husband's second term. Most recently, she and Trump traveled together to Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral on April 26. She also attended the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 21.
