Time to call off the watch? First lady Melania Trump is set to return to public duties Monday night after a weeks-long absence. Melania Trump and President Trump are hosting a reception on Monday evening for families of slain service members, according to the White House schedule.
The event with Gold Star families is closed to the media, but it marks the first official event that Melania Trump has attended since the last time she was seen in public — on May 10, she and the president appeared at Joint Base Andrews to greet three Americans who had been released from prison in North Korea. On May 14, the White House announced that she had undergone a successful embolization procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to treat a benign kidney condition.
The White House offered few updates on her condition or whereabouts, though President Trump told reporters in late May that she was “doing great” and was at the White House, where her spokeswoman said the first lady was attending meetings with her staff. Still, the prolonged absence prompted speculation, which Melania Trump herself addressed in a May 30 tweet. “I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I’m doing,” she wrote. “Rest assured, I’m here at the @WhiteHouse w my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!”
Melania Trump will not accompany her husband to the Group of Seven meeting in Quebec this week or the North Korea summit in Singapore on May 12.