Trump’s Birthday Message to Melania ‘Had Nothing To Do With Her,' Claims Ex-Aide: "It Was Just..."

After claiming that his criminal prosecution was preventing him from seeing his wife, Melania Trump, on her birthday, former president Donald Trump has come under fire. As reported by HuffPost, Stephanie Grisham, a former advisor to Melania, said that the message wasn't primarily about the couple's affection. Instead, it was about something else entirely: his voters.

Attending the eighth day of his trial last Friday, the real estate mogul entered a not-guilty plea to the charge of falsifying company documents in the New York courtroom. In an interview with reporters outside the courtroom, Donald wished Melania a happy 54th birthday and said he was sorry he wasn't there.

As per the report by HuffPost, the aide claimed that it was all a 'performance for voters' and an attempt to win over suburban women and independents. She cited conversations she had had with Melania about how 'they actually weren't really birthday people, like that wasn't a big deal to either of them.' She went on, "It was just typical, selfish Donald Trump; it had nothing to do with her." Before joining his presidential campaign as the Press Secretary and Director of Communications, Grisham was Melania's Chief of Staff.

As he spoke to reporters on April 26, Donald bemoaned the fact that the trial prevented him from celebrating Melania's birthday, even though she never went to court with her husband. He said that after the trial, he would be returning via plane to Florida. He told reporters, "I want to start by wishing my wife Melania a very Happy Birthday. It would be nice to be with her, but I'm in a courthouse for a rigged trial... But I do have to begin by wishing Melania Happy Birthday. She's in Florida, I'll be going there this evening after this case finishes up—this horrible, unconstitutional case." 

The allegations against the former President are connected to an alleged cover-up of 2016 payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep their stories hidden from the public, which in turn led to purported election interference. This is the reason Trump's comments backfired on social media. Ron Filipkowski, a former federal prosecutor, wrote on X, "I'm sure Melania appreciates Trump bringing her name into the national coverage today of his porn star and Playboy model sex scandal trial so he can use her birthday to try and garner sympathy from his MAGA cultists. I'm sure she was thrilled."

He also wrote, "Trump can't be with Melania on her birthday because he's on trial for arranging to pay off Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep silent because he had an affair with her during Melania's entire pregnancy. That's why he's missing her birthday." Another user wrote, "Trump is whining because he would prefer to be with Melania on her birthday. He is literally in court because he chose to bang a porn star rather than be with his wife and their newborn son."

Trump has often lamented that he is unable to spend quality time with his family because of his many court appearances. As reported by the Daily Beast, he recently expressed dissatisfaction at having to miss his son Barron Trump's May 17 high school graduation to attend court.