In her first solo appearance since Donald Trump became the Republican presidential candidate for the US election, Melania has emerged from the shadows to host a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans.

Wearing a black Michael Kors pant suit, Melania, 53, was introduced by gay Republican Richard Grenell – who served in the Trump administration – as she made her way into the tea rooms at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach on April 20 for the conservative LGBT advocacy group function.

Noticeably absent from Trump’s historic criminal hush money trial in New York, Melania’s strategic cameo signals a soft return to the campaign as he fronts a downtown Manhattan courthouse in New York.

She delivered a heartfelt speech about the “importance of unifying to protect our great country”, and mingled with a select closed-door group of about 80 high-profile guests, including Fox News founder Roger Ailes’ widow Liz Ailes, Fox News contributor Caitlyn Jenner and Deborah Magowan, wife of the former San Francisco Giants chairman.

Jenner’s manager Sophia Hutchins, who is a Trump 2024 surrogate and convention delegate, told The Daily Beast the former first lady was “electric” in her solo return after being absent for months.

“Melania is a very private figure, and her public appearances never disappoint,” said Hutchins, a Log Cabin Republicans board member.

“I’ve been around Melania for over a decade, socially, and obviously since her husband entered politics.

“She’s always had that mystique about her.

“But whenever she gets into a room with people … she is electric, and we saw that on Saturday night.”

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‘Inching back in the spotlight’

Speaking to the gathering, Melania said funds “would go toward an effort to deploy resources to key swing states in educating voters about LGBTQ+ causes and delivering pro-Trump messages among gay and lesbian communities,” according to one of the co-hosts and a long-time friend of Trump, Bill White.

He told ABC News America “this initiative is expected to be one of Melania Trump’s top priorities, White said, among other “upcoming activities”.

Her melaniatrump.com website has also made the news in recent days, selling a $US24 gold pendant with three petals and engraved with her signature for Mother’s Day this year.

It also sells a range of digital collectables including Christmas decorations, USA memorabilia and a “Be Best” initiative about supporting children in foster care.

As the Washington Post declares, Melania is “inching back in the spotlight”.

Melania is back on the campaign trail. Photo: FlotusReport/TikTok

‘Proof’

She has also been monitoring the news cycle.

Trump is charged with criminally falsifying business records to cover up a $US130,000 ($200,000) payment to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels, who says they had a sexual encounter 10 years earlier.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies having an encounter with Daniels.

His lawyers argue that Trump did not commit any crimes and only acted to protect his reputation.

According to former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, the former first lady is “closely monitoring” the proceedings from afar, seeking “proof” of any “damaging stuff she didn’t know about”.

“I can guarantee she is watching every ounce of coverage,” she told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Grisham’s comments come as the first witness in the trial, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, testified he used his supermarket tabloid to suppress stories that might have hurt Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.

Pecker, 72, testified the Enquirer paid two people who were peddling stories of Trump’s sexual misbehaviour but never published them – a practice known as “catch and kill”.

“When someone’s running for public office like this, it is very common for these women to call up a magazine like the National Enquirer to try to sell their stories,” Pecker testified.

Pecker said the Enquirer paid Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of an alleged sexual relationship with Trump in 2006 and 2007.

He said he bought the story after Trump refused to do so himself.

“He said that any time you do anything like this it always gets out,” Pecker said.

Prosecutors say Pecker’s actions helped Trump deceive voters in the 2016 election by burying these stories of alleged extramarital affairs at a time when he already faced multiple accusations of sexual misbehaviour.

Grisham said “Melania is very much about proof”.

“Show proof … if more damaging stuff should come out that she didn’t know about because of course her husband continues to deny all of the details here about Stormy.

“… if some other stuff comes out, I think that will be really interesting to watch because you can’t really dispute things that are in writing.

“That is something she always paid quite a bit of attention to was proof.”