Donald Trump lawsuits: Melania Trump texts, emails could be evidence

Donald Trump, the former US president, is currently facing three different criminal trials.

In New York, he’s accused of business fraud in connection with alleged hush money payments to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

In Florida, he’s been charged with illegally retaining sensitive national security information after leaving office, and then obstructing the government’s attempts to retrieve it.

And this week, federal prosecutors in Washington D.C. charged Mr Trump over his efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

A fourth criminal indictment is looming in Georgia, again in connection with his behaviour after the election. A grand jury has been considering whether he illegally pressured officials to overturn Mr Biden’s victory in the state.

Mr Trump denies any wrongdoing in all of these cases.

‘Melania understood what was going on’

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a high profile event planner, was close friends with Mrs Trump for about 15 years. She fell out with the then-first lady after helping to produce Mr Trump’s $US107 million inauguration in 2017.

The event was dogged by allegations of funds being misused, and Ms Wolkoff felt she had been made a scapegoat for decisions taken by Mr Trump and his staff.

Since her alienation from the Trumps, Ms Wolkoff has become a bitter critic of the pair, and in 2020 released a controversial tell-all book about her relationship with Mrs Trump, based in part on audio recordings she’d taken without the first lady’s knowledge or consent.

Ms Wolkoff recently spoke to a podcast hosted by Jessica Denson, a former staffer on Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign who went to court to void a nondisclosure agreement she had signed. She, too, is now an outspoken critic of the former president.

During their conversation, Ms Denson asked about the possibility of Mrs Trump being called as a witness in one of the cases against her husband, specifically the one in Florida.

“I think Melania Trump was subpoenaed several times in different investigations. Whether or not she complied with them and what she actually handed over is going to be, I think, a shock to all of us,” Ms Wolkoff said.

“I do believe that between her texts and Signal and WhatsApp and also her many different emails that she uses, that there absolutely is going to be evidence that shows she understood what was going on, and that she was a part of everything that really does go on with Donald and is very much aligned with his thinking.

“Forget about being a transactional couple. They are a transactional criminal enterprise.”

It should be stressed that Mrs Trump has been accused of no wrongdoing whatsoever.

However Ms Wolkoff proceeded with more explosive language, accusing the Trumps of “disingenuousness”, “deceit” and “deception”.

“I do hope the investigators do have her Signals, that I have, and I hope that they have her text messages, and I hope that they have every email that was written on a non-government email address, because those emails show Melania is very well aware of everything.”

Former lieutenants turn on Trump

Mrs Trump’s husband has also endured unwelcome commentary from former allies this week, including two of the most prominent members of his administration.

Mike Pence, who was vice president for Mr Trump’s entire term in office, is now running against him for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.

The American vice president also serves as president of the Senate, and in that capacity, back in January of 2021, Mr Pence presided over the formal certification of Mr Biden’s victory. He defied intense public pressure from Mr Trump to throw out the results from several key states – something he lacked the power to do anyway.

That made Mr Pence something of a pariah among Mr Trump’s supporters, some of whom infamously chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” as they stormed the US Capitol Building on January 6, seeking to stop the certification.

Speaking in the wake of the Washington D.C. indictment on Wednesday, Mr Pence rejected Mr Trump’s current version of events, which is that he merely wanted his vice president to “pause the vote counting” on January 6.

“Let’s be clear on this point: it wasn’t just to ask for a pause,” Mr Pence told Fox News.

“The president specifically asked me, and his gaggle of crackpot lawyers asked me, to literally reject votes.”

Earlier, in a written statement, Mr Pence argued “our country is more important than one man” and “our constitution is more important than any one man’s career”.

“The former president is entitled to the presumption of innocence,” he stressed.

However he added: “On January 6, President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the constitution. I chose the constitution, and I always will.”

Another Trump loyalist turned fierce critic is William Barr, who served as his attorney-general for almost two years.

Having already issued a dire assessment of Mr Trump’s prospects in the Florida case two months ago, on Wednesday night he weighed in on the Washington D.C. indictment.

“I think it’s a legitimate case. I think, unlike the documents case, it’s going to have issues of proof. It’s a more complicated case,” Mr Barr told CNN.

“I’m a little concerned about the slipper slope of criminalising legitimate political activity. I’m worried about moving in that direction.

“But as a legal matter, I don’t have a problem with the indictment.”

Host Kaitlan Collins asked Mr Barr whether the argument from Mr Trump’s legal team, that he was simply exercising his rights under the First Amendment to the US constitution in the post-election period, was “valid”.

The First Amendment gives Americans their right to freedom of speech.

“No, I really don’t think that’s a valid argument,” Mr Barr replied.

“They’re not attacking the First Amendment right. He can say whatever he wants. He can even lie. He can even tell people the election was stolen when he knew better. But that does not protect you from entering into a conspiracy.

“All conspiracies involve speech, and all fraud involves speech. Free speech doesn’t give you the right to engage in a fraudulent conspiracy.

“You read through the indictment, and his behaviour in that indictment, and it’s nauseating. It’s despicable behaviour. Whether it’s criminal or not, someone who engaged in that type of bullying around a process that is fundamental to our system and our self-government should not be anywhere near the Oval Office.”

Indictment ‘all about election interference’

Mr Trump, for his part, has called for the Washington D.C. case to be moved elsewhere, arguing it will be impossible for him to receive a fair trial in the American capital.

“The latest Fake ‘case’ brought by Crooked Joe Biden and Deranged Jack Smith will hopefully be moved to an impartial Venue, such as the politically unbiased nearby State of West Virginia!” he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“IMPOSSIBLE to get a fair trial in Washington D.C., which is over 95 per cent anti-Trump, and for which I have called for a Federal TAKEOVER in order to bring our Capital back to Greatness. It is now a high crime embarrassment to our Nation and indeed, the World.

“This Indictment is all about Election Interference!!!”

(Various random capitalisations his, not mine.)

Washington D.C. is indeed overwhelmingly Democratic; Mr Biden won 92 per cent of the vote there in 2020. West Virginia, which Mr Trump described as “politically unbiased”, is one of the most heavily Republican states in the country; he won 68 per cent of the vote there.

Jack Smith is the special counsel prosecuting Mr Trump in this latest case, as well as the one concerning government documents in Florida.

Mr Biden has denied any involvement in the decision to prosecute his predecessor.

Twitter: @SamClench