Melania Trump hadn’t been spotted at the White House for more than a month. But as her husband prepared for a high-stakes Alaska summit with his Russian counterpart in pursuit of an end to the war in Ukraine, the first lady was practicing diplomacy.

“Dear President Putin,” she wrote in a direct appeal to the Russian president. “Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart, whether born randomly into a nation’s rustic countryside or a magnificent city-center. They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger.”

It underscored, those who know and observe the first lady say, the understated but influential role she has played in Donald Trump’s second term as president, despite her physical absence from Washington.

The first lady is rarely seen publicly. She did not acc

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