Ivanka Trump Trends On X After Skipping Dad Donald's 'Very Sad' Trial; Fans Also Ask 'Where's Melania?'
Ivanka Trump and Melania Trump remained no-shows at former President Donald Trump's hush-money trial as closing arguments began Tuesday, triggering another round of speculation regarding their whereabouts.
Trump was joined by his children Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Tiffany Trump in the Manhattan courthouse on what the GOP 2024 presidential candidate described to reporters as "a very sad day" and "a very dangerous day for America," according to the Daily Beast.
Eric's wife, Lara Trump, and Tiffany's husband, Michael Boulos, were also present to support their father-in-law as prosecutors made their final pitch to jurors for why Trump should be convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush-money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Social media users quickly noticed Ivanka and Melania's absence, which led to Trump's daughter and wife becoming trending topics on X, formerly Twitter.
In a now-viral video shared on X, a reporter asked Trump as he walked into the courtroom Tuesday: "Where's Melania?"
As Tiffany Trump, Eric Trump, Lara Trump and Don Jr stand behind Donald Trump at the courthouse today, reporter shouts the obvious question: “Where’s Melania?” pic.twitter.com/znsESEXOGi
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) May 28, 2024
The question was also asked by a number of X users, with one tweeting: "Where's Melania? Pretty sad his own wife won't show up to support him."
Some users claimed that Melania and Ivanka were distancing themselves from Trump, who may become the first convicted former U.S. president depending on the jury verdict in the trial.
"[Melania] knows he's guilty," one person claimed, while another speculated, "Melania Trump could be meeting a divorce attorney at this point."
"Melania hates Donald's guts. THAT'S why she didn't show up to support him even a single day of his criminal trial," tweeted Jon Cooper, the former national finance chair of the Draft Biden PAC.
Responding to Cooper's post, another user added, "Apparently so does Princess Ivanka. Trump must be crushed."
But others pointed out that Ivanka and Melania did not have to be physically present in the courtroom to support Trump and that their absence from the trial did not mean there's a rift between them.
"Why should she be there? They are doing very well," one user wrote.
Some also suggested that Trump may be "protecting" his eldest daughter and wife, who have steered clear of his 2024 presidential campaign and his legal troubles over the past three years.
"[Trump] is protecting [Melania]. If she showed up you would start bashing her to get to him. She doesn't need to be there," an X user wrote.
Based on now-deleted Instagram Stories, obtained by the Daily Mail, Ivanka was in Las Vegas Sunday evening watching an Adele concert with her 12-year-old daughter, Arabella.
In 2022, the former first daughter, who served as senior White House adviser during her father's presidency, told Fox News Digital that she no longer wanted to be "involved in politics."
But Ivanka said at the time that she would continue to support Trump "outside the political arena."
An unnamed source close to the Trump 2024 campaign suggested to CNN that Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, could make a joint appearance before a verdict is reached.
Melania has also largely stayed away from the spotlight since leaving the White House in 2021, though she's made a few appearances alongside her husband this year.
Unnamed insiders told CNN that Melania's lack of comment and absence from Trump's ongoing trial did not come as a surprise.
The trial centered on payments made to Daniels, who alleged that she had a sexual encounter with Trump just months after Melania gave birth to their only child, Barron Trump.
Trump has denied the affair accusations and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
