Former President Donald Trump (left) wished his wife Melania Trump (right) a happy birthday on Friday morning (Pictures: EPA/AP)
Ex-President Donald Trump wished his wife Melania a ‘happy birthday’ before walking into his ongoing hush money trial and said ‘it would be nice to be with her’ instead.
Trump, 77, mentioned Melania’s birthday twice outside Manhattan Criminal Court on the morning that she turned 54 years old.
‘I want to start by wishing my wife Melania a very happy birthday. It would be nice to be with her but I’m at a courthouse for a rigged trial, it’s a rigged trial, Terrible,’ he said on Friday.
‘But we’re doing very well in this rigged trial. Everybody knows it. Yesterday was a big day but I do have to begin by wishing Melania, happy birthday.’
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The former president also revealed the location of his wife, who has not appeared alongside him in his criminal trial or on the campaign trail.
‘She’s in Florida,’ Trump said. ‘I’ll be going there this evening after this case finishes up. This horrible, unconstitutional case.’
As of early afternoon on Friday, Melania was quiet on social media.
But on the morning before her birthday, she shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) about ‘prioritizing self-care’. It included a version of the $245 Mother’s Day necklaces she is selling, with customized engravings of the initials of her husband, her own, and their son Barron’s in each of the pendant’s heart-shaped petals.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he arrives his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Friday (Picture: EPA)
Former First Lady Melania Trump (left) shared a necklace with initials including her husband Donald Trump’s (right) and emphasized ‘prioritizing self-care’ on the day before before her birthday (Pictures: Getty Images/melaniatrump.com)
‘As mothers, we are inclined to honor our mothers on Mother’s Day, but we must also be mindful of ourselves,’ she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
‘Our families and children enjoy greater stability when commemorating motherhood while concurrently prioritizing self-care.’
Trump is attending the eighth day of his trial centering on a $130,000 hush money payment his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, made to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her on an alleged extramarital affair.
The ex-president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the alleged scheme during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Former President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial (Picture: Getty Images)
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who allegedly helped broker the payment, returned to the witness stand for a fourth day.
Defense lawyers in cross-examination tried to discredit prosecutors’ argument that the National Enquirer worked to protect Trump’s campaign.
Trump beginning his day by wishing Melania a happy birthday was a departure from last year, when some noticed him ranting online but failing to mention her special day. The former first lady reportedly also rang in her birthday last year at her Mar-a-Lago home, along with some friends.
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