Melania Trump and other members of the former president’s immediate family were not in attendance at Thursday night’s face-off between Donald Trump and President Joe Biden but there was a familiar face sitting in Biden’s camp.
Mary Trump, the former president’s estranged niece appeared in the debate spin room alongside Biden’s campaign. On the eve of the debate, the daughter of Fred Trump Jr. and a vocal critic of her uncle, announced that she would be supporting Biden in the race against Trump.
“I’m in Atlanta tonight to remind everyone who Donald is as a person and how he would rule as a president because the stakes are far too high for us to get this wrong—we cannot afford to allow Donald Trump anywhere near the levers of power again,” she wrote on her Substack, according to Newsweek.
A video shared to Biden’s X account prior to the debate featured criticisms from people who were once in Trump’s inner circle.
“On the subject of character, few people can speak to Donald Trump’s better than his family,” a Biden campaign official said of Mary Trump’s attendance. Mary said was in Atlanta “to remind everyone who Donald is as a person and how he would rule as a president.”
“We cannot afford to allow Donald Trump anywhere near the levers of power again,” she said, adding that she “witnessed my uncle’s narcissism and cruelty” her whole life.
After the debate, she restated her support for Biden on X, writing: “I was proud to be a surrogate for team Biden/Harris tonight but was deeply disheartened by the egregious abdication of journalistic responsibility we saw on that debate stage. Donald doesn’t need any favors.”
As for the rest of the Trump family, there were no signs of Melania in Atlanta with CNN reporting that she did not fly with her husband to Georgia. The former First Lady was notably absent throughout her husband’s recent criminal trial in New York. Trump’s children also appeared not to attend the debate but did make occasional appearances at the trial.
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