The former US first lady is seeking to secure her financial future and that of her son Barron, reports claim
Donald Trump, Melania Trump and Barron Trump are seen at the funeral of Ivana Trump on July 20, 2022 in New York City © Getty Images / JNI/Star Max/GC Images
Former United States first lady Melania Trump is believed to have “quietly” renegotiated her prenuptial marital agreement with her husband Donald Trump as the ex-president’s legal issues continue to mount, a US media report says.
Melania Trump, who has maintained a low profile since Joe Biden succeeded her husband as US president in January 2021, amended her marital agreement in order to secure her own financial future, as well as that of their 17-year-old son Barron Trump, the New York Post reported earlier this week citing anonymous sources.
The report comes just days after a judge in New York ruled that Donald Trump had committed widespread and prolonged real-estate fraud – including while he was president – by artificially inflating the value of his holdings by billions of dollars.
“This is at least the third time Melania has renegotiated the terms of her marital agreement,” a source told the New York Post. “Melania is most concerned about maintaining and increasing a substantial trust for their son, Barron.”
The report adds that Melania Trump’s legal team began talks with Donald Trump’s representatives last year, at around the time that the former president began signaling that he was preparing to begin a bid to regain the White House in the 2024 presidential election.
Read more
Donald Trump has subsequently been faced with an array of legal issues, including four criminal indictments and possible imprisonment. He denies all claims of wrongdoing.
“It’s not that she threatened to leave him,” the New York Post’s source said. “I know that she wanted it to provide her with more money and also, from what I understand, there’s a specific amount at minimum that Barron is supposed to obtain.”
In addition to the real-estate fraud case in New York, Donald Trump also faces myriad legal issues. He is alleged to have made illegal ‘hush money’ payments to an adult film actress, and to have wilfully mishandled classified government documents at his Florida estate. He is also facing charges related to election meddling in the state of Georgia.
He has denied all allegations of illegality, and said this week that the New York real-estate case is “un-American” and a “scam” designed by his political opponents to impact his campaign to return to the White House.
On Friday, an ally of Donald Trump, Republican poll-watcher Scott Hall, pleaded guilty to conspiring to interfere with the process of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. He is expected to testify against Trump in upcoming court proceedings.
