Last Updated Jan 30, 2018 9:45 PM EST
First lady Melania Trump arrived separately from President Trump to the Capitol for Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Last year, Melania Trump rode with Mr. Trump when he addressed Congress, and previous first ladies usually ride with the president to the speech.
According to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, Melania Trump instead hosted a reception for guests who were invited to the speech, and accompanied them to the Capitol for another reception.
The first lady — wearing a white Dior pantsuit — received a standing ovation as she entered the House chamber to take her seat for the State of the Union address.
First lady Melania Trump waves prior to President Trump’s State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Tue., Jan. 30, 2018.
Reuters
The first lady hadn’t been seen in public with Trump since The Wall Street Journal reported this month that, in 2016, Trump’s lawyer paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair she had with Trump. Daniels issued a statement Tuesday denying the affair.
While Mr. Trump has not commented on the accusations leveled against him, Vice President Mike Pence told The Associated Press during a visit to Jerusalem that the reports of the affair were “baseless allegations.” Mr. Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, also denied there was any relationship between the two.
The first lady has been keeping a low profile recently, and her attendance at the speech will mark her first public outing since canceling her trip to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
Her trip to Switzerland had been on her public schedule, but Melania Trump’s press office said there were “too many scheduling and logistical issues.” Instead, while Mr. Trump was in Davos, she stopped at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in advance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the people whose lives and families were broken by the horrors of the Holocaust,” the first lady said in a statement. “My heart is with you, and we remember.”
The first lady later tweeted that the visit was “a powerful & moving tour that honors the millions of innocent lives lost, and educates us on the tragedies and effects of the holocaust.”
Her no-show in Davos also came on the heels of the celebration of the couple’s 13th wedding anniversary as well as the anniversary of her husband’s inauguration, which she marked with a social media post featuring a photo of herself holding the arms of a service member at the 2017 ceremony.
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