Melania Trump Makes Rare Public Appearance After Husband Leaves New York

After weeks of keeping a low profile, Melania Trump was spotted on Tuesday arriving at Trump Tower after her husband Donald Trump left New York for a rally in Milwaukee.

Just days after Donald Trump allegedly called Milwaukee "a horrible city" in a meeting with GOP lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol, he held a rally there on Tuesday in a bid to garner support in the key swing state of Wisconsin.

While Steven Cheung, Donald Trump's campaign spokesperson, said the former president was "talking about how terrible crime and voter fraud are," analysts believe the alleged negative comment about Milwaukee could cost him the presidential election.

Melania Trump didn't join her husband at the rally and was instead seen in New York City sporting a Hermès Birkin bag in photos published by Page Six.

The former first lady was photographed keeping her head down as she exited a black SUV before entering Trump Tower. She matched her beige-colored bag with an all-white ensemble, which consisted of a shirt, pants and ballet flats. The outing was the first time she had been seen in public in over two weeks.

Newsweek contacted representatives of Melania Trump via a website request form for comment.

The last time Melania Trump was spotted in public was when she was photographed leaving her New York City residence on June 4, which marked her first public sighting since Donald Trump was convicted in his hush money criminal trial.

In photographs published by the New York Post, the former first lady was seen wearing a golden brown jumpsuit while stepping out of the Trump Tower skyscraper with her 18-year-old son, Barron Trump, in tow.

According to the publication, she entered a black Secret Service SUV, into which at least seven Louis Vuitton luggage bags were loaded. Also placed into the bulletproof vehicle were a number of garment totes emblazoned with Barron's initials.

The SUV left for neighboring New Jersey, where the Trumps own an estate at Bedminster, per the Post. It was reported that she had been holed up in her penthouse in the Manhattan landmark since May 23.

Questions regarding Melania's whereabouts flooded social media for several weeks after she was not seen at court for the entirety of her husband's high-profile criminal trial, which took place in New York City.

Wisconsin is set to be one of the battleground states in November's neck-and-neck presidential race, with President Joe Biden beating Donald Trump in the Badger State in the 2020 election by only 20,000 votes. Polls currently show that Biden and Donald Trump are tied in Wisconsin with less than five months to go before the 2024 election.

An expert suggested that Donald Trump's purported remarks about Milwaukee could alienate voters, which could be detrimental given polls ahead of the presidential election are so tight.

According to Christopher Phelps, a professor of modern American history at the University of Nottingham in the U.K., the alleged comment could particularly affect undecided, centrist and independent voters.

"When it comes down to a struggle for every last vote, as the race is in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, it's never a great idea to condemn a whole city that many call home," he told Newsweek.

"To be honest, Donald Trump's Wisconsin core base won't care—they're mostly rural and they've swallowed far more controversial comments from him. But undecided voters, centrist voters, and independent voters in Wisconsin might take affront, particularly if it reminds them of concerns about Trump's stability and judgment."

He added: "It's probably not advisable to make too much of a stray comment made five months before the election, though. Mostly voters in November will be making their choices based on issues such as the economy, immigration policy, abortion, and democracy and [the] rule of law."