Wife of Trump aide Dan Scavino files for divorce
The wife of White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino Jr. filed for divorce, according to Dutchess County court records.
Jennifer Scavino filed for divorce in Dutchess on Jan. 18, and there was a notice of appearance on March 2, according to the court records.
New York keeps divorce records under seal so not much else has been revealed.
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Before Trump tapped Scavino to be his social media chief at the end of 2016, he and his wife Jennifer lived in Hopewell Junction. He joined Trump’s presidential campaign in 2015 as head of social media.
The couple, married since 2000, have two sons and have a home in Hopewell Junction. The Scavinos filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2015 after racking up tens of thousands in medical bills.
Jennifer Scavino has fought chronic Lyme disease for more than a decade, according to a Tweet Dan Scavino sent in 2015. Among the creditors claims listed in the bankruptcy filing are medical bills of $35,000, $12,450 and $10,292, in addition to smaller amounts.
Dan Scavino has been working for Trump for nearly 30 years.
He met Donald Trump in 1990 when he was a teenage caddie and bag room attendant at Briarcliff Manor Club, which Trump later purchased and renamed Trump National Golf Club, Westchester. Dan Scavino rose through the ranks to become the executive vice president and general manager at the golf club.
Dan Scavino was also instrumental in Trump's purchase of a golf property in Stormville. In late 2009, Trump purchased Branton Woods Golf Course and renamed it Trump National Golf Club, Hudson Valley.
After a brief time working outside of the Trump Organization, Dan Scavino returned to lead candidate Trump's social media operation in 2015 and eventually to direct President Trump's social media accounts.
As part of Scavino’s job responsibilities he manages the presidential administration’s messaging via social media. He sometimes tweets for the President too with tweets that have at times been identical from his account and Trump’s.
Dan Scavino, along with Dutchess County Sheriff Butch Anderson and Mike McCormack, chairman of the Dutchess County Republican Committee, spoke at a Trump campaign rally at Mid-Hudson Civic Center in April 2016.
Second divorce in a week
This is the second divorce announcement to hit Trump's orbit in a week.
Late Thursday, Vanessa Trump sued Donald Trump Jr., President Trump's eldest child, for divorce. They have five children and have been married since 2005.
Dan Scavino was reprimanded in June 2017 for violating the Hatch Act, the federal law that prohibits members of the executive branch from engaging in some forms of political activity, the Office of Special Counsel announced.
On April 1, 2017, Scavino tweeted that Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan was a "major liability." Amash, a libertarian Republican, had helped block a vote on legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act because he believed it left too much of Obama's signature health care law intact.
Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington complained because Scavino's Twitter account displayed a photo of Scavino standing in the Oval Office and his header photo displayed President Trump giving a speech behind a lectern with the presidential seal, which CREW said violated ethics rules.
Dan Scavino was counseled by the Office of the White House Counsel on the Hatch Act.
Contributing: Amy Wu of The Poughkeepsie Journal and Jessica Estepa of USA Today. Follow Amy Wu on Twitter: @wu_pojo