Melania Trump Missing as Jill Biden Attends Presidential Debate

First lady Jill Biden was in attendance, while former first lady Melania Trump was nowhere to be seen as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Thursday faced off in the first of two scheduled debates.

Melania's conspicuous absence from the campaign trail during the 2024 election cycle has prompted considerable speculation about her relationship with the former president since he announced his bid to return to the White House. Her no-show at the debate on Thursday is almost certain to raise more eyebrows.

Shortly before the debate started at CNN's studio in Atlanta, Joe Biden shared to X, formerly Twitter, a photo of himself that he said was taken by the first lady before the debate. The first lady also appeared on stage with the president at the conclusion of the event.

CNN reported that the former first lady was not at the studio and had not traveled with the former president when he arrived in Atlanta earlier on Thursday. Forbes, MSNBC and ABC News also reported that Melania was absent.

Biden took a swipe at Trump's relationship with his wife during the debate, accusing him of "having the morals of an alley cat" by "having sex with a porn star while you wife was pregnant"—a reference to Trump's alleged affair with Stormy Daniels.

Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump's office via email on Thursday night.

The former first lady has not participated in any public campaigning with her husband this year, although she was seen alongside the former president at the high school graduation ceremony of their son Barron Trump last month.

She was also spotted twice this month outside Trump Tower in New York City. Her next chance to attend a debate may come on September 10, when the former president and Biden are set to take part in their final scheduled debate.

Melania was in attendance as Trump and Biden took part in two debates ahead of the 2020 presidential election, while also being present for all three Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton debates in 2016.

Trump and Biden had been scheduled to take part in three debates in 2020 but Trump refused to participate in the second debate after organizers changed the event to a virtual format over concerns about COVID-19, with Trump having tested positive less than two weeks earlier.

Mark Meadows, Trump's former White House chief of staff, wrote in the 2021 book The Chief's Chief that Trump tested positive for the virus three days before the first debate took place on September 29, 2020.

Meadows later described the test result as a "false positive." Trump was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for COVID treatment on October 2, 2020.