As far as Melania Trump is concerned, President Trump is canceled.
For a few days, anyway. In a change of previously announced plans, the first lady won’t join the president at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this week.
The schedule tweak was announced on the Trumps’ 13th wedding anniversary. (As of Tuesday afternoon, the Trumps had not acknowledged their special day on Twitter, which former President Obama made a presidential custom of sorts.)
Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s communications director, said Mrs. Trump nixed the trip because of “too many scheduling and logistical issues.” Last week, Grisham said the first lady would be going.
The switch came after the “Wall Street Journal” reported on Jan. 12 that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen had paid a former adult-film star named Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair they had in July 2006. Melania Trump had given birth to son Barron three months earlier. Reporters soon unearthed a 2011 interview Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) had given to “InTouch” magazine, in which she alleged that she and the president had unprotected sex during an affair that lasted a year.
White House officials and Vice President Mike Pence have denied the allegations.
Yesterday, the first lady commemorated the first anniversary of her husband’s inauguration with a photo of herself without the president, on the arm of a square-jawed military escort. “This has been a year filled with many wonderful moments,” the first lady tweeted Saturday. “I’ve enjoyed the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet throughout our great country & the world!
The Trumps’ uncharacteristic Twitter silence on their anniversary diverged from the way the Obamas observed former first lady Michelle Obama’s birthday on social media last week. “You’re not only my wife and the mother of my children, you’re my best friend,” the former president wrote on Instagram, posting a picture of the couple. “I love your strength, your grace, and your determination. And I love you more each day.”
Mrs. Obama responded with a photo post of flowers and a gift the former president had given her.
