Former United States President Donald Trump recently revealed his wife Melania Trump’s first reaction after he was shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Mr Trump was hit in the ear in an assassination bid by a gunman at a campaign rally. Blood was visible on his cheeks and mouth. The shooter was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. He and a bystander were killed, while two spectators were critically injured.

“What was Melania’s reaction, I hope you don’t mind me asking, I know this is very personal, when she learned about what happened on that field in Butler?” Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked the former president. “She was watching live. It was all over the place, it was on television,” Mr Trump said.

“And I asked her that, I mean I wasn’t there, I was on the ground-when the world started to, when you could talk to people and said, ‘So what was your feeling,’ and she was ah, she can’t really even talk about it-“

The 45th US President continued, “Which is OK, because that means she likes me or she loves me. Let’s say if she could talk about it freely, that would be, I’m not so sure which is better but ah, she either likes or loves me, that’s nice.”

Meanwhile, the former first lady said that the gunman who opened fire at Mr Trump was a “monster”. “A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion — his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration,” Melania Trump said in a statement shared on X.

“When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realized my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change,” she said, referencing the couple’s 18-year-old son.

“I am grateful to the brave secret service agents and law enforcement officials who risked their own lives to protect my husband,” she added.

Former United States President Donald Trump has spoken about his wife Melania’s absence from the 2024 presidential campaign. She was recently spotted on Easter Sunday at Mar-a-Lago with her son Barron Trump, where the entire family had gathered for brunch. However, she has been absent from the former US President’s campaign events and multiple court trials.

Her husband’s vote-casting in the Florida primary in February was their last election-related event together, as per a report in the Independent. When asked if was going to campaign with him for the November 2024 elections, she said, “Stay tuned”.

When her husband was campaigning in 2016 and 2020, Mrs Trump frequently stayed at home. She clarified that she wanted to be present for Barron, who was nine at the time, in an interview with 20/20 in 2015. Even after Mr Trump won in 2016, she did not move from the New York penthouse until June 2017.

Discussing her absence from the events, the 45th US President said that Melania Trump would return at an appropriate time. “She’s a private person, a great person, a very confident person, and she loves our country very much. She’ll be – at the appropriate time – she’ll be out there,” Mr Trump said during an interview with Meet the Press in September. Notably, Mr Trump also said that his wife “doesn’t need to be out there”.

Mr Trump had also suggested that keeping Melania out of the limelight during election campaigning was his decision. He said he wanted to “keep her away” from the campaign. “It’s so nasty and so mean,” he said.

In late March, a close aide to the first lady told CNN that Mrs Trump chooses when and how to show up to political functions. On the other hand, it seems that she will become more noticeable as the election approaches. She and her husband will also be hosting a fundraiser on Saturday in West Palm Beach. She will also be present on April 20 at a Mar-a-Lago event for the Log Cabin Republicans.

Her absence sparked “missing” posters to be posted online around the time of the Iowa caucuses. A picture of Mrs Trump with the words, “Have you seen this woman?  Where is our First Lady? Why is Donald Trump hiding her? We miss her. Please call 561-832-2600 if found” was shared widely.