More than she let on: Melania’s influence on Donald Trump during his biggest scandals is being revealed

Donald Trump’s wife Melania Trump has often been portrayed as publicly hands-off both in the political world and when it comes to her husband’s biggest scandals. But this might not the case after all.

Media reports have long presented Melania, a former supermodel, as a reluctant participant in her husband’s administration and campaign. When some of his biggest scandals came to light, she would be in the background, often taking time to comment, if she did at all. 

Now, it’s being revealed that her role in shaping his public responses to scandals was bigger than it may have been let on. That includes the Access Hollywood tape scandal that nearly ended Mr Trump’s political career. While recorded in 2005, the talk with an Access Hollywood anchor about grabbing women wasn’t revealed until 2016, just weeks before the election. His team tried to downplay it as “locker room talk”.

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen told a New York City courtroom this week about the immediate response to the Access Hollywood tape. “We needed to put a spin on this… that this is locker room talk, something that Melania had recommended—that’s what Melania had thought it was—and use that in order to get control over the story and to minimize its impact on him and his campaign.”

Cohen’s insight into Melania’s role in handling the scandal was detailed as he took the witness stand in Mr Trump’s trial over alleged hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The former president faces 34 felony counts and prison if convicted. Cohen is one of the star witnesses for the prosecution as he details the payments and the efforts to try to prevent the affair between Ms Daniels and Mr Trump from becoming public.

Ms Trump’s absence from the trial, of