I'd post the CNN link, but it won't post here. Be best!
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CNN) While former President Donald Trump watches his second impeachment trial unfold, Melania Trump spends most of her time post-White House relaxing at the spa and staying out of the fray.
Though she has been checking in on the trial, says one source familiar with her interest level, the former first lady has mentally all but left Washington behind, unlike her husband.
According to multiple people who spoke to CNN about Trump's life in the weeks since she departed the nation's capital, her daily schedule has nothing to do with politics, Congress, trials or stymied social media accounts.
"She goes to the spa, has lunch, goes to the spa (again) and has dinner with Donald on the patio," said one person familiar with Melania Trump's schedule at Mar-a-Lago, her home in Palm Beach, Florida. "Rinse and repeat. Every day."
Another person familiar with her daily routine confirms Trump's affinity for the private club's spa facilities, noting it is not unusual for her to spend several hours a day there, enjoying the benefits at her disposal, often going twice in a 24-hour period, for massages, nail care, facial treatments or other items on the menu.
"She almost always does dinner," said a third person who has seen Trump outside of the spa. She spends her evenings on the outdoor patio of Mar-a-Lago, where she prefers fish for an entrée, according to the source, and is often joined at the table by her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, who reside in a private suite of rooms at Mar-a-Lago for much of the year.
Though she is now a former first lady of the United States, her daily routine has not seen a significant change.
"It's pretty much the same as it was before (she was first lady) or even when she would come down during vacations," said the source familiar with Trump's schedule, noting there is not much evidence to delineate pre- and post-White House activities or work.
Melania Trump's office did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
Trump is in the midst of setting up an official office and has hired three former employees from her East Wing staff in the hopes of resurrecting her Be Best campaign of helping children, continuing her "work," as she calls it to friends.
Moments of bitterness
Yet there have been moments of bitterness and regret, say several people with knowledge of Trump's conversations of late, most notably since Joe Biden's inauguration and with respect to the activities of her successor, Jill Biden.
When Trump left Washington, she had the worst favorability ratings of any modern first lady upon departure from the White House, according to polling conducted by SSRS for CNN.
At one time, early in her tenure, that wasn't the case -- Melania Trump was the most-liked member of the Trump family and the broader administration. But it's possible that Donald Trump's incendiary style, even though not necessarily something his wife condoned, had the residual effect of chipping away at the first lady's popularity. After the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Melania Trump did not make a statement denouncing the violence for five days.
"She could see how it was going to go for her," said one former White House official who spoke to CNN, noting that Trump felt she was in a lose-lose predicament whether she spoke publicly or not. If she condemned the violence, her husband and his base would be angered and it would create a stir about her breaking with the President. And by staying silent, she was implying support for what happened.
"Once (the insurrection) happened, she knew there was nothing to gain for her by speaking out or doing something -- so she didn't do anything," the former White House official said.
Two members of the first lady's staff resigned shortly after the deadly insurrection in protest of the administration's seeming acquiescence.
Trump, according to a person familiar with her schedule, had planned on going to Biden's inauguration and learned she would not be attending when her husband tweeted he would not go.
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