Donald Trump Discusses Melania's Absence in New Year's Message

Hold us accountable by rating this article's fairness Donald Trump has confirmed his wife 's absence from holiday celebrations was because she was staying with her sick mother. The former president wished his mother in law, Amalija Knavs, a speedy recovery during a New Year's Eve speech at his Mar a Lago, Florida residence, but described the situation as "a very tough one." It comes after the former First Lady was conspicuously absent from a Christmas photo posted by , fiancé of Jr., on showing much of the Trump family gathered at his Palm Beach resort.

Following the image's publication, a source close to Melania Trump told News: "Melania has always been very devoted to her entire family. It should be no surprise that she spent this Christmas with her ailing mother." Melania Trump's father, Viktor, and son with Donald Trump, Barron, were also pictured in the photo.

In footage of part of Trump's remarks during his New Year's Eve event recorded by one of the attendees, the former president noted that Melania Trump was absent from the celebration. "Melania—great First Lady, so popular, the people love her—she's now in a hospital with her mother," he told partygoers at his annual bash.

"Her mother, Amalija, is very ill, but hopefully she'll be recovering. "But she's been very ill, so I just want to say 'hello' to the First Lady—we just spoke, down in Miami, great hospital—and hopefully they'll be ok, but it's a tough one, it's a very tough one.

So she sends her love to everybody and she knows probably about 95 percent of the people here like I do. And we just want to wish Amalija that she gets better as quickly as possible." President Trump at Mar a Lago on New Year's Eve 2023! Melania Trump has made few public appearances since her husband left office in 2021, and has not appeared alongside him on his 2024 campaign trail or at his various court appearances.

Earlier in December, she at the National Archives, after appearing alongside other First Ladies at the funeral of Rosalynn Carter. Having led a life largely out of the gaze of media scrutiny before Trump's foray into politics, those close to the former First Lady have intimated that since leaving the White House, she returned to relative seclusion, spending most of her time with .

When Trump first took office, she opted to until the end of the school year. Laurence Leamer, author of the 2019 book , recently claimed that the Florida residence and had a "strange, isolated life." A spokesperson for the couple has yet to comment on the remarks. While Melania Trump has not joined her husband at rallies, she endorsed his candidacy in a May interview with , telling the broadcaster she looked forward to "restoring hope for the future and leading America with love and strength." "We are going to have a great year.

Our country has gone to hell and we're going to turn it around, we're going to turn it around pretty quickly," Trump said during his speech on Sunday. "We're going to have a great 2024, we're going to make America great again." Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground..