Former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance is not just a lawyer, she’s a legal analyst. She’s the kind of expert when we refer to “legal experts.”

So when she weighs in on Trump’s legal struggles, her opinion carries more weight than most.

And what she’s saying now should trouble the Trump crime family to the point that they begin to change their behavior — specifically, Trump’s wife, Melania.

Vance noted via social media that several prominent supporters have and do appear in court with the former president, including Matt Gaetz, who’s generally preoccupied with his underage partners, and Lauren Boebert, who is apparently distracted enough from groping her partner publicly to come to Trump’s trial.

But, she said, the jury isn’t going to pay much attention to those who clearly support him. They’re going to notice who’s absent: his wife.

“In court with Trump today: Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz. When you can get these two but not your wife in court, it’s got to register with the jury.”

In court with Trump today: Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz.

When you can get these two but not your wife in court, it's got to register with the jury.

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) May 16, 2024

The reason for Melania’s absence is plain — she doesn’t want to be seen alongside the man who had affairs with both an adult film star and a Playboy centerfold (for nearly a year) while she was pregnant with their son, Barron.

She hasn’t accompanied him on the campaign trail for the same reason that hotel owners have been prying his letters off the side of their buildings. Because he’s awful.

It’s the same reason she smacks his hand away when he tries to hold hers.

It’s the same reason she lived off in New York while he was in Washington DC.

Neama Rahmani, another former federal prosecutor, went further:

“It has to be incredibly embarrassing for Melania to hear evidence of Trump’s affair with an adult film actress without using protection. There was additional damaging testimony about them sleeping in separate rooms and Trump saying that he wouldn’t be on the market long if Melania divorced him.”

YES. HE SAID THAT.

It’s really not much different than the attitude he’s had toward women his entire life, but it’s especially galling when he says it about his current wife. You know, the one he married 19 years ago, when Bill and Hillary came to the wedding.

Melania’s former aide, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff said on CNN that she doesn’t think the former First Lady has any intention of ever attending any portion of his criminal trial:

“In regards, again, to a marriage that you want to consider to be something that most people are trying to still understand, don’t. I do not see her supporting him this way …. I think you can feel that humiliation without having to put yourself in front of the cameras. Everything Melania does is staged.”

I just hope Melania is okay after all of this is over.