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First Lady Melania Trump made her first public appearance in weeks – and people think they know why she’s reappeared now.
While Melania has remained largely out of the spotlight during her husband Donald Trump’s second term as president, a month-long absence has been noted – not least given all the flack he's been getting over his apparently close relationships with certain members of his staff.
Making her entrance at a White House event to promote a foster care initiative on Thursday (20 August), Melania appeared to poke fun at her own absence, which has seen her miss the dignified transfer of fallen US service members, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and Senator Lindsey Graham’s funeral.
“Good afternoon. I heard you missed me,” she said to an audience at the Rose Garden after holding her husband’s hand as they walked to the site. “Here I am.”
Her appearance comes just days after Democratic senator Jon Ossoff drew attention to US president Trump’s close relationship with 35-year-old aide Natalie Harp who, it was reported, was one of a handful of people quietly removed from a decoy flight that the Secret Service also removed Trump from due to security fears.
Georgia senator Ossoff said at a rally last week: “While the sailors on the [USS Abraham] Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings. He golfs and trades stocks.
“See, he doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
His remarks appeared to have touched a nerve with the Trump administration with Trump’s director of communications Steven Cheung dubbing him “Jon Jackoff” and Trump himself calling Ossoff a “Pee-wee Herman lookalike”.
People have since collectively (though baselessly) theorised that Ossoff’s remark was what prompted Melania Trump’s reappearance.
“BAHHAAHAHA LOOK AT WHAT OSSOFF MADE THEM DO,” someone joked.
Another pointed out: “She hasn’t been seen in a month. Now she conveniently pops up amid a scandal about Trump’s inappropriate relationship with Natalie.”
Someone else suggested: “Ossoff got them so shook, they flew in Melania.”
“All it took to get Trump and Melania back together for a few hours was a Jon Ossoff speech,” mocked another.
One person wrote: “Ossoff got Melania back to work.”
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