First lady Melania Trump made her second unannounced trip of the day, flying all the way to her family’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Earlier Thursday, FLOTUS had surfaced at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, making her first public outing since porn star Stormy Daniels was quoted alleging an affair, a decade ago, with President Trump.
The White House did not invite reporters to cover the first lady’s Holocaust museum tour, nor was the press given any heads up about Melania Trump’s travel plans to Florida.
CNN broke the news that the first lady’s plane had arrived in West Palm Beach.
Originally, the first lady was supposed to accompany the president to Davos, Switzerland, for his appearance at the World Economic Forum today and tomorrow, but Grisham said because of ‘too many scheduling and logistical issues’ Melania Trump would not be going.
First lady Melania Trump’s plane was spotted on the tarmac in West Palm Beach, the closest airport to Mar-a-Lago. The White House didn’t announce the first lady’s trip to the resort
First lady Melania Trump visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Thursday, in advance of Saturday’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Before tweeting photos of the tour, the first lady hadn’t been photographed in 10 days, during which time a 2011 interview with porn star Stormy Daniels was published by In Touch Weekly detailing her alleged affair with Donald Trump
The White House didn’t invite reporters to the event, only telling the press about the first lady’s trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Thursday with a tweet. Later, the first lady tweeted three photographs of the excursion
First lady Melania Trump (right) is seen returning to the White House with President Trump on January 15, the last time she was photographed by the White House press corps
First lady Melania Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham made FLOTUS’ trip to the Holocaust museum public. The tour was previously unannounced
The first lady’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham tweeted about Melania Trump’s visit to the Holocaust museum on Thursday, but reporters were not invited to tag along
Melania Trump, whose first year in the position of first lady was marked with sporadic public appearances, has kept an even lower profile in the early weeks of this year.
It was the Wall Street Journal that first reported on January 12 that Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to keep Daniels quiet in the weeks before the 2016 election.
Cohen has denied Trump had a sexual relationship with Daniels, but has not denied making the payment.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, divulged details about her alleged relationship with Trump during a 2011 interview with In Touch Weekly, which never ran until January 17 of this year.
The adult film actress said she and the billionaire businessman first hooked up in 2006, at a Nevada hotel outside of Lake Tahoe, and continued to see each other through 2007.
In this undated photo, porn star Stormy Daniels (right) is photographed alongside the current president, Donald Trump (left)
Stormy Daniels poses on the red carpet at the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas in January 2017
The interview was reportedly conducted along with a lie-detector test.
Before the release of the In Touch Weekly Q&A, several other sources corroborated the details of the story.
Porn star Alana Evans appeared on Megyn Kelly’s portion of the Today show on January 16 and talked about how Daniels called her from Trump’s hotel room, wanting her to come along.
The same day, Slate’s Jacob Weisberg wrote a piece detailing how he had been in touch with Daniels between August and October of 2016.
She detailed her affair with Trump to him, though wanted to be paid for the story, which is something Weisberg’s publication does not do.
She also revealed that, through an intermediary, Trump had offered her money to stay silent.
A pal of Daniels’ later told the Slate writer, after Daniels stopped answering his messages, that she had taken the sum.
Melania Trump and the now-president were married on January 22, 2005, a year and a half before Daniels’ and the president’s first alleged sexual encounter.
And despite marking their 13th wedding anniversary on Monday, neither Trump mentioned the occasion, nor were they seen out together publicly.
The president was, however, dealing with the government shutdown.
Since seen returning to the White House on January 15 from a weekend away at Mar-a-Lago, Melania Trump hasn’t been photographed.
She’s kept off social media for the most part too.
On January 20, marking the one-year anniversary of her husband’s inauguration day, the first lady tweeted a photo of herself – sans Trump – being accompanied to the swearing-in ceremony by a military escort.
‘This has been a year filled with many wonderful moments. I’ve enjoyed the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet throughout our great country & the world!’ she wrote.
She tweeted again Thursday, once her tour through the museum was done.
‘Thank you @HolocaustMuseum for a powerful & moving tour that honors the millions of innocent lives lost, and educates us on the tragedies and effects of the holocaust,’ the first lady said.