Melania Trump appeared to skip Donald Trump’s indictment trip from Florida to New York as the former president was reportedly joined on the flight by his son Eric.
The one-term president left his Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday to fly to New York City ahead of his arrest and appearance in court on hush money payment charges on Tuesday afternoon.
The former first lady was not named among the group travelling north on Mr Trump’s private plane by The New York Times.
The newspaper’s Maggie Haberman reported that the former president was joined by a host of campaign aides on his New York trip, including his son Eric Trump, campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, longtime communications aide Jason Miller, former White House aide Dan Scavino, and Boris Epshteyn, who was on the team of lawyers who launched a spurious legal effort to overturn 2020 results.
Mr Trump is reportedly facing 34 felony counts related to business fraud, according to a recent report from Yahoo News.
Mr Trump has been indicted by a New York City grand jury on charges of falsifying business records stemming from payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from revealing an affair he had with her before the 2016 election.
The indictment, which is currently still under seal, was filed with the New York Supreme Court late on Thursday, just before the court clerk’s office wrapped its business for the day.
The twice-impeached former president’s plane landed at LaGuardia Airport in Queens and headed straight to his Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue where he stayed overnight on Monday before his court appearance downtown on Tuesday afternoon.
Law enforcement is on high alert and barricades have been erected around Trump Tower and Manhattan Criminal Court, where Mr Trump will appear before Judge Juan Merchan at 2.15pm on Tuesday.
Mr Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told ABC that his client is “gearing up for battle” in the case.
This is far from Mr Trump’s only legal troubles, with The Washington Post reporting that the US Department of Justice is pursuing an obstruction of justice case against the former president over the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.
