New details of the funeral for former first lady Melania Trump's mother, Amalija Knavs, have been disclosed.
Melania shared an emotional tribute on social media when revealing her mother had died on January 9 at the age of 78, and details have now started to come to light about the private funeral. This includes Melania's husband, former President Donald Trump, announcing he will miss a New York trial date in order to attend the funeral.
The funeral will be held today, January 18, at a church near the Trump family's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The private service will take place at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea.
Donald Trump is in the middle of a civil defamation trial that began on January 16 after being found liable in September for defaming former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll.
In May 2023, Trump was found liable for sexually abusing Carroll at a Bergdorf Goodman store in the 1990s and then defaming her character while denying the assault took place. He was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.
Carroll is seeking $10 million in damages in this defamation suit, which focuses on Trump's statements made in 2019 denying the assault, including that Carroll made up the attack to sell copies of her book and that she wasn't his "type." Trump has denied all wrongdoing.
The former president posted on Truth Social on Thursday that he was in Florida for the funeral and that it was more important than appearing in court.
In his post, Trump paid tribute to his late mother-in-law and said: "Just landed in West Palm Beach from New Hampshire, where the event and enthusiastic crowd was incredible. Will be back on Friday for big Rallies over the weekend. Staying through Election Night, but today will be devoted to the funeral (Celebration!!!) of a GREAT WOMAN, 'Babi,' the Beloved Mother of Melania and Grandmother of Barron — And what a Woman she was!!!"
At a press call on Wednesday after his day in court, he said U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan was a "nasty man" and a "Trump-hating guy" for wanting him to miss the funeral and attend the trial instead.
"What happened very terribly is we asked to just delay the trial for one day so I could go to the funeral tomorrow, and then we could start Friday or Monday or any time they want. Then he said, 'Absolutely not. The trial will go on just as it is. You can go to the funeral, or you can go to the trial, but you can't do both,'" Trump said.
"So he would rather have you missed the funeral, or go to the funeral, or miss the trial. And that's a nasty man. He's a nasty judge. He's a Trump-hating guy."
Details of Knavs' cause of death are unknown at this time, but Trump said in his New Year's Eve party speech at Mar-a-Lago that she had been "very ill." He added that Melania was with her mother in a hospital in Miami at the time, describing the situation as "a very tough one."
Newsweek reached out via email to the press team of former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
