Melania's golden prison: can first ladies file for divorce?
There have been single, widowed, married and previously separated presidents, but none have been divorced after passing through the Oval Office despite constant marital crises. The Trumps could break this custom after the president's string of scandals.
Few presidential couples have passed through the White House without sparking rumors of marital crises, infidelity or impending divorce. From Gerald Ford to the Kennedys, from the Clintons to the Obamas, in the post-colonial years and in the most recent history of the United States. Public opinion has always speculated on how little these marriages would last once the corresponding term had expired, 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 if this tradition of happy presidential couples is about to come to an end. There has even been a legal debate about whether it would be possible for a first lady to get a separation even before her '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 the Clintons experienced at the time. And although it is true that since winning the elections the Trump couple has shown signs of not being a conventional team, in the last month fears of a breakup have increased.
The spark that rekindled 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 by uncovering the Wall Street Journal that during the election campaign a lawyer for the tycoon paid $130,000 to the movie star X so that this adventure would not come out in 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 for 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 from the 'bunny' in which she detailed her relationship with Trump, who according to these papers even offered her money in exchange for sex, something she rejected.
Although from the beginning of this presidency the media have caught snubs and bad gestures from Melania towards her husband, since these latest cases were aired, especially that of Stormy Daniels, 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 State of the Union speech arrived, which she attended and 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 reached with Trump's lawyer to remain 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 this money was an undeclared contribution to the Republican campaign.
New Lewinsky case
If this threat from the porn actress is fulfilled, the Trump couple could find themselves facing a new Lewinsky case, and Melania find herself in the same position as Hillary Clinton (70) who was able to withstand media pressure and stay with her husband, saving not only his marriage but also his future political career.
But considering that Melania harbors no such career ambitions, the question that arises is whether it would be possible for her, if ever, to file for divorce from her.
"It is a situation that has never occurred before," explains to EL ESPAÑOL 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 he enjoys what is calls presidential immunity, a legal defense that prevents a White House tenant from being brought before a civilian 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 ones-, so it is not known if that immunity would protect him", points out 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 considered in the White House, Melania would have to file the lawsuit in New York or the District of Columbia, "and alternative measures such as mediation or arbitration could be taken there - more private, faster and more flexible." - but it will always depend on the law of each state," says Schmidt, for whom the greatest difficulty lies in whether a state judge can rule over a president. In her opinion, it is most likely that the tycoon's advisers would file a motion for the case to be shelved based on presidential immunity.
On the other hand, 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.
Surrogate first ladies
If this situation were to occur, a replacement for Melania would not technically 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 experience in divorce, 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, also an interpreter Jane Wyman, decades before running for president. He said yes a second time in 1952 to Nancy Reagan, who became first lady when she took office in 1981.
This past was not a problem for a politician like Reagan to achieve victory, but the truth is that American society was not always so understanding with divorce. Other candidates cost 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 I do, in 1964, he tried to be nominated by the Republican Party for the presidential race, but he was left out.
Perhaps the US of the 1960s was not as tolerant as 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 morality is no longer so closed when it comes to divorce.
The book Presidential Selection, by Alexander Heard and Michael Nielson, analyzed this evolution. "Much like being from the South or Catholic, divorce was considered a barrier to the presidency. Yet Reagan campaigned in 1976 and was elected in 1980 without his divorce backing him up. Society's tolerance of divorce grew so much during the 1960s that it ceased to be an obstacle".
Widowers with young girls and Pocahontas
Marital 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 go through 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 bearing him eight children. Widowed at age 54, the president turned to wooing 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 bore her husband seven more children.
In Woodrow Wilson's case, his first wife, Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, died of kidney disease a year into his first term as president. Following this loss, he married Edith Wilson, a direct descendant of Pocahontas on her father's side.
Interestingly, this woman of Native American descent gained 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 term.
A gay president
Another unique case is that of the aforementioned James Buchanan, who was the only president who remained single throughout his term, from 1857 to 1862. The many researchers who have biographed him have written that he was asexual, celibate and even homosexual. . Despite his lack of interest in women at 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 her death, Buchanan asked the father of the deceased for permission to go to her funeral, but he was denied. After that relationship, he never checked out another woman.
At the opposite extreme is Donald Trump, who married Ivana Zelníčková in 1977, and then Marla Maples in 1993. When he separated from his first, in the early 1990s, he declared that "when a man leaves a woman, especially when he leaves with a hot girl, there is a 50 percent of the population that will love the abandoned woman".
Despite the existence of prenuptial agreements, both Ivana and Marla challenged them to get more out of the divorce. In the end, Ivana received $14 million in cash, $350,000 a year in child support, 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, if there was a divorce battle, "it is quite clear that the prenuptial agreement would remain in force, like any other contract that the president had signed, although the question again is how to force the president to meet it," says Lisa J. Schmidt.
What is clear is that, even in the event of a legal war being opened over the couple's fortune and properties, Trump would keep the White House, even though many in Washington wanted another deal.
