Donald Trump Once Thanked His Whole Family Except Wife Melania in Speech After Arraignment

Just after his initial arrest in April, Donald Trump gave an extremely important speech, but he left out a significant member of his family: his wife Melania Trump.

Following an investigation into an alleged hush money payment he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels when he was a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying company records. The ex-president entered a not-guilty plea to the accusations. At an address from his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago, Trump praised his family for standing with him throughout his legal struggle.

"I have a son here who's done a great job and I have another son here who's done a great job; and Tiffany, and Ivanka," Trump said in his speech, visibly leaving out Melania, per PEOPLE. "And Baron will be great someday. He's tall and smart. But I have a great family and they've done a fantastic job and we appreciate it very much."

Ivanka, 41, Eric, 45, and Donald Jr., 45, are the children of 77-year-old Trump and his first wife Ivana. Along with son Barron, 17, with his current wife Melania, he also shares daughter Tiffany, 29, with his ex-wife, Marla Maples. The former president talked at length about the charges, saying, "I never knew something like this could happen in America. The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those that seek to destroy it."

Nearly 20 years into her marriage to Trump, Melania was not present for his historic arraignment. She seemed to miss his speech after the arraignment as well.

Before Donald Trump was formally charged, sources told PEOPLE that Melania, 52, was carrying on with her life at the couple's Palm Beach property despite her husband's impending legal troubles. "Melania is leading her own life, and still feels happy being at Mar-a-Lago, surrounded by people who love her and who never talk about reality or bad things about her husband," a social source told PEOPLE.

She does not, however, endorse her husband's alleged involvement in the hush money payment, which is connected to a supposed extramarital affair with Daniels. The affair allegedly occurred less than four months after Melania gave birth to Barron in 2006, according to the former porn actress.

"She remains angry and doesn't want to hear [the alleged hush money payment] mentioned," the source told PEOPLE. "She is aware of who her husband is and keeps her life upbeat with her own family and a few close friends."

According to the insider, Melania has been outraged by the Daniels allegations at least since 2018. While Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime attorney, originally refuted the allegations of an affair, Cohen eventually acknowledged that a payment had been made to the actress. Cohen described the 2016 $130,000 payment to Daniels as "a private" transaction he made and said that Trump had not paid him back.