Melania's absence from China trip sparks questions

When President Donald Trump deplaned Air Force One in Beijing on Wednesday, one person was conspicuously absent: his third wife, the Daily Beast reported.

Rambling down the steps behind the president, who turns 80 in June, was his son Eric Trump and his wife, Lara.

The last time Trump visited China in 2017, first lady Melania Trump was in tow, with a full schedule of events alongside China's first lady, Peng Liyuan. The two toured the Forbidden City and visited the Great Wall. Mrs. Trump also visited the Banchang Primary School and participated in activities with the students. She attended a Peking opera and took part in a classroom session about calligraphy, astronomy and Chinese architecture. She also visited the pandas at the zoo

This week, her office released the statement: “First Lady Melania Trump is not traveling this time."

The White House was mum on the matter.

The first lady has been visibly void in this presidency. The recent exception was welcoming the British royal family to the White House.

Former actress and model Marla Maples, Trump's second wife, was on hand at Mar-a-Lago in a February event. A report from the Daily Beast noted at the time that "Maples has seemingly cultivated a role of her own as a Mar-a-Lago mainstay and one of the most public-facing cheerleaders of her ex-husband’s administration.

The Beast believes Maples isn't trying to get her husband back, rather, she "appears to be just making the most of her association to Trump to bask in the attention—and cash in."

Speculation has been swirling in the president's first year about the first lady's frequent break from her husband, particularly when it comes to trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. In an April statement, she lent her support to survivors speaking on the record before Congress. Republicans running the House Oversight and Reform Committee refused the demand. Democrats held a field hearing instead. White House aides were reportedly blindsided by her surprise public statement. Only a few people knew the content of the speech, including her husband, according to what he told an MS NOW reporter.

The speech gave new life to the Epstein scandal, which had fallen from public interest amid the Iran war, high fuel prices, problems for farmers, lack of affordable housing and soaring grocery prices.