NEW YORK (NewsNation) — Three members of Donald Trump’s immediate family didn’t attend any proceedings of the former president’s hush money trial since it began in April — his wife Melania, his daughter Ivanka Trump, and his youngest son, Barron Trump.
It’s possible that Trump asked Melania and Ivanka not to attend; however, Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric, daughter Tiffany and daughter-in-law Lara did attend closing arguments.
Laurence Leamer, author of “Mar-a-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump’s Presidential Palace,” speculates that Melania “wanted to marry a rich man” and she has now “paid the price.”
“It’s amazing that Melania can even put up with this, all this time,” Leamer said Friday on “CUOMO.” “It’s a sad life, no matter what image she tries to project.”
Shortly after Trump was charged, Ivanka shared a photo in an Instagram story of her dad and her from when she was a toddler, with the caption “I love you dad.”
During a news conference Friday, Trump said he wanted to testify in his trial but was discouraged by his legal team. Speaking in front of Trump Tower in New York the day after the unprecedented verdict in his trial, Trump said he ultimately decided not to testify because it would have allowed lawyers to dig into everything he’s ever done, and that the judge wanted to go into every detail.
“I would have liked to have testified,” he said. “But you would have said something out of whack like, ‘It was a beautiful sunny day,’ and it was actually raining out.”
Trump was charged with 34 counts related to falsifying business records to conceal damaging information from voters ahead of the election. Michael Cohen, his former attorney, previously pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws for orchestrating or making the hush money payments.
Trump’s conviction does not prohibit him from running for or holding office. Depending on how things play out, however, it may prevent him from being able to vote for himself in November.
NewsNation’s Steph Whiteside contributed to this report.