Melania's Golden Prison: Can First Ladies File for Divorce?
Few presidential couples have passed through the White House without sparking rumors about marital crisis, infidelity or impending divorces. From Gerald Ford to the Kennedys, from the Clintons to the Obamas, in the postcolonial years and in more recent US history. Public opinion has always speculated on how short these marriages would last once the corresponding mandate was fulfilled, and yet not a single president has separated after leaving office. Only Ronald Reagan occupied the Oval Office having previously been divorced. Only him, until the Trumps arrived, of course.
The peculiar relationship between Donald (71) and Melania Trump (47) has made the American press wonder on numerous occasions whether this tradition of happy presidential couples is about to come to an end. There has even been a legal debate on whether it would be possible for a first lady to get separated even before him 'commander-in-chief' leaves office.
The matter is not limited to the means of the heart. The situation that the couple is going through, and what is to come, could unleash a legal crisis in Washington similar to the one that the Clintons experienced at the time. And although it is true that since winning the elections the Trump marriage has shown signs of not being a conventional team, in the last month the fears of a break have increased.
The spark that reignited this matter was the scandal over the alleged infidelity that Trump committed in 2006 with the porn actress Stormy Daniels, which would have been credited when the Wall Street Journal uncovered that during the election campaign a lawyer for the magnate paid $ 130,000 to the movie star X so that this adventure would not go to the media. To make matters worse, the relationship would have taken place while the Slovenian model was recovering after the birth of Banon, the son she had with the businessman.
But that 2006 the intimate activity of the tycoon gave much more. As The New Yorker magazine revealed this week, former Playboy model Karen McDougal then had a nine-month affair with the now president. The publication has brought to light some private handwritten notes of the 'bunny' in which she detailed her relationship with Trump, who according to these papers even offered her money in exchange for sex, something that she rejected.
Although since the beginning of this presidency the media have caught slights and bad gestures from Melania towards her husband, since these last cases, especially that of Stormy Daniels, were aired, things have gotten worse. After that episode, the first lady stopped appearing publicly for several days and did not star in any official act until the speech on the State of the Union arrived, which she attended and from which she left alone, breaking the tradition of accompanying the president.
This storm has only just begun, since the representative of the porn actress recently announced that Daniels will tell the story in the first person, since the confidentiality agreement he reached with Trump's lawyer to keep silent has been invalidated, by recognize this that the payment existed. In addition, as for the political aspect of this scandal, it could have legal consequences if it is considered that that money was an undeclared contribution to the Republican campaign.
New Lewinsky case
If this threat from the porn actress is fulfilled, the Trump marriage could find itself facing a new Lewinsky case, and Melania find herself in the same situation that Hillary Clinton (70) lived, who was able to withstand the media pressure and stay with her husband, saving not only his marriage but also his future political career.
But considering that Melania does not harbor these types of professional ambitions, the question that arises is whether it would be possible for her, if necessary, to file for divorce.
"It is a situation that has never occurred before", explains to EL ESPAoundsOL the lawyer Lisa J. Schmidt, from the firm Schmidt & Long, who has studied whether it is legally possible to sue a president taking into account that she enjoys what is called presidential immunity, a legal defense that prevents taking a White House tenant before a civil court.
Based on a complaint against Bill Clinton (71), "the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that a president can be sued in federal court" for a matter related to his private life, although "divorce is a matter that is managed in the state jurisdiction -there are 50 different-, so it is not known if that immunity would protect him, "says this lawyer.
In his opinion, "the lawsuit can be filed but the problem will come when the state judge tries to force the president to do things, such as go to a hearing or start an investigation period. It is even different than if he is sued for a problem. related to their business or their behavior, because in separations, both spouses have to go to court for some things. "
In the event that a divorce were to be raised in the White House, Melania would have to file the lawsuit in New York or the District of Columbia, "and there alternative measures such as mediation or arbitration could be taken - more private, faster and more flexible - but it will always depend on the law of each state, "points out Schmidt, for whom the greatest difficulty lies in whether a state judge can rule over a president. In his opinion, it is most likely that the magnate's advisers raised a motion for the case to be shelved based on presidential immunity.
By contrast, if it were a president who wanted to leave the first lady, there would be no legal difficulty. "She has no immunity," remarks J. Schmidt.
First ladies substitutes
If this situation were to occur, technically a replacement for Melania would not be necessary, since the figure of the first lady is not officially regulated as such, although tradition has shown that she plays a key political role. In fact, presidents have not always used their wives for this position. James Buchanan, the only single commander-in-chief, used his niece Harriet Lane for this role. Therefore, it is conceivable that in the event of separation, Ivanka could take over this responsibility.
Although Donald Trump has experiences with divorces, he is not the first politician to arrive in the Oval Office with that background. Ronald Reagan, the 40th president, was the first, and only until Trump, to take office after divorcing. The actor, turned Republican candidate, separated from his first wife, the also interpreter Jane Wyman, decades before running for president. He said yes I do for the second time in 1952 with Nancy Reagan, who became first lady when she took office in 1981.
This past did not pose any problem for a politician like Reagan to achieve victory, but the truth is that American society was not always so sympathetic to divorce. It cost other candidates their careers. For example, former New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, who in 1963 married his second wife, Happy Rockefeller, also divorced. Shortly after saying yes, in 1964, he tried to be nominated by the Republican Party for the presidential race, but he was left out.
Perhaps the America of the 1960s was not as tolerant as that of the 1980s, or perhaps it was because Reagan's breakup was not close to his political adventure. In any case, Trump's victory in 2016 makes it clear that American morale is no longer so closed when it comes to divorce.
In Melania's case, should a divorce battle take place, "it is quite clear that the prenuptial agreement would remain in force, like any other contract the president has signed, although the question again is how to force the president to stick with it, "says Lisa J. Schmidt.
What is clear is that, even in the event of a legal war over the couple's fortune and property, the White House would remain with Trump, no matter how much many in Washington wanted another deal.
Widowers with young girls and pocahontas
Marriage problems have been a constant in the White House since the beginning of this young country, with affairs included, such as that of Bill Clinton or Franklin D. Roosevelt, among others. However, some had to deal with bigger problems, such as the loss of the first lady. Two presidents, John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson, were widowed and remarried during their respective terms.
In Tyler's case, his first wife, Letitia Christian, died of a stroke in 1842 after giving him eight children. After being widowed at age 54, the president set about courting 19-year-old Julia Gardiner, the daughter of a wealthy New York state senator, whom he married two years later. She became the youngest first lady in history, and gave her husband seven more children.
In Woodrow Wilson's case, his first wife, Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, died of kidney disease within a year of his first term as president. Following this loss, she married Edith Wilson, a direct descendant of Pocahontas on her father's side.
Interestingly, this woman of Native American descent acquired great power in the US at the time, after Wilson suffered a severe stroke in late 1919. Edith became the de facto head of government, as it was she who she selected which of the affairs of state deserved the attention of her husband, who was bedridden during the last years of his tenure.
An asexual president
Another unique case is that of the aforementioned James Buchanan, who has been the only president who remained single throughout his term, from 1857 to 1862. The multiple researchers who have biographed him have written about him that he was asexual, celibate and even homosexual. . Despite his disinterest in the women of the time, in 1819 he was engaged to Anne Caroline Coleman, the daughter of a wealthy iron industrialist. She, just before she died suddenly, broke off the engagement, after he was too busy with his career. After his death, Buchanan asked the father of the deceased for permission to go to his funeral, but he refused. After that relationship, he never compared another woman.
At the other extreme is Donald Trump, who married Ivana Zelníčková in 1977, and then Marla Maples in 1993. When he parted ways with his first, in the early 1990s, he declared that "when a man leaves a woman, especially when he's off with a hot chick, there is 50 percent of the population who will love abandoned women. "
Despite the existence of prenuptial agreements, both Ivana and Marla challenged them to get a bigger cut from the divorce. In the end, Ivana received $ 14 million in cash, 350,000 a year in alimony, and 300,000 a year to support her three children. She also kept several properties and mansions. Maples, for her part, settled for two million.
In Melania's case, should a divorce battle take place, "it is quite clear that the prenuptial agreement would remain in force, like any other contract that the president has signed, although the question again is how to force the president to stick with it, "says Lisa J. Schmidt.
What is clear is that, even in the event of a legal war over the couple's fortune and property, the White House would remain with Trump, no matter how much many in Washington wanted another deal.
