First Lady Melania Trump will not be joining the president when he heads to Camp David Friday afternoon, three weeks after she was in the hospital for a kidney procedure.
The president is expected to travel to the Maryland retreat Friday afternoon. He is expected to hold meetings in preparation for a possible summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Trump hasn’t been seen in public for 22 days. She was last seen in public on May 10, when she joined her husband to welcome the return of three Americans who were being held captive in North Korea.
The Associated Press reported she would not be going on the weekend trip.
The first lady underwent an embolization procedure on Monday, May 14, likely to remove a cyst from her kidney. Her office said it was benign, or non-cancerous.
First Lady Melania Trump will not be joining her husband this weekend when he flies to Camp David. She hasn’t been seen in public in 21 days, leading to multiple conspiracy theories on her absence
She spent a week in the hospital recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
She returned to the White House on Saturday, May 19. Some medical professionals said the five-day hospitalization was long for such a procedure.
She didn’t join her husband at a White House sports and fitness event, where Ivanka Trump was present with the president.
A CNBC reporter tweeted this week: ‘Not that this will deter the conspiracy theorists, but I saw the First Lady walking with her aides in the West Wing yesterday afternoon.’
First lady Melania Trump arrives in the Rose Garden to speak at the White House May 7, 2018 in Washington, DC. Trump outlined her new initiatives, known as the Be Best program, as first lady during the event
In a May 30 tweet, the first lady needled the media for speculating about her whereabouts.
‘I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I’m doing. Rest assured, I’m here at the @WhiteHouse w my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!’
However, the tweet only brought more questions, as President Trump has been known to use phrases like ‘working overtime’ in his own tweets.
The White House has swatted down some conspiracy theories that have popped up – including one that held she wasn’t even in the White House.
The White House slammed a report that the first lady was missing because she’s caring for her ‘ailing’ mom in Bedminster, New Jersey, where PresidentDonald Trump owns a golf resort.
The first lady tweeted that the media is ‘working overtime’ speculating about her but says she is at the White House
The first lady hasn’t been seen in public in 22 days but her husband has said she is doing well in her recovery
Melania Trump’s office denied a report the first lady has been out of the public eye because she is caring for her ailing mother, Amalija Knavs, pictured here with husband Viktor
The blog Showbiz411 quoted a source as saying the reason the first lady hasn’t been seen in public in 21 days is because her mother, Amalija Knavs, is very ill.
A source told the gossip website: ‘She’s taking care of her mother,’ who is battling a pretty serious illness.
‘They’re all at Bedminster,’ the source said. ‘Melania, her parents, Barron when he’s not in school. She’s (Melania) not in the White House.’
However, the first lady’s office knocked down the report as ‘false.’
‘Everything about that blog is false and incorrect,’ Melania Trump spokesperson Stephanie Grisham told the Dailymail.com.
Viktor and Amalija Knavs moved to the Washington DC area after Trump won the election to help care for their grandson, 12-year-old Barron Trump, who is in a local school.
They are legal permanent residents of the United States and often travel with the Trumps.
The first lady’s public absence and lack of photos of her working at the White House as she claims has led to multiple conspiracy theories.
There has been so much speculation Melania Trump addressed it on Wednesday with a tweet saying she is at the White House and ‘working hard.’
The first lady sent out a solemn Memorial Day tweet but did not accompany her husband to Arlington National Cemetery
But that just led to another conspiracy theory that the tweet was actually written by the president instead with the Huffington Post comparing language in the first lady’s tweet to words and phrases used by Donald Trump.
The first lady’s longtime friend, Paolo Zampolli told the Associated Press she thinks Melania Trump ‘wanted to spend some quality time with her family.’
Grisham told the DailyMail.com earlier this week that the first lady has been meeting with her staff on the ‘Be Best’ initiative and working on upcoming projects like the annual White House congressional picnic and Fourth of July plans.
Grisham told the AP the first lady would like to be ‘out and about promoting her initiatives’ but ‘her health comes first.’
A reporter for CNBC tweeted he saw the first lady in the West Wing on Tuesday walking with aides. No other details were given.
Politico reported Wednesday there are a variety of conspiracy theories being banded about given Melania’s absence: She’s moved back to New York City, she’s cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, she’s living with the Obamas, working on a tell-all book or she had a secret nip and tuck that she’s healing from.
Viktor and Amalija Knavs moved to the Washington DC area after Donald Trump won the election to help care for their grandson
Her last public appearance was on May 10 when she accompanied the president to Joint Base Andrews to greet three North Korean detainees on the tarmac after they were released the evening before.
The day before she and the president celebrated military mothers at the White House ahead of Mother’s Day weekend.
And she had announced her Be Best campaign against social media bullying two days before that.
There have been no indications on when she may been seen in public again.
No date has been set for this year’s congressional picnic but last year’s took place on June 22 on the White House South Lawn. The White House traditionally hosts a big Fourth of July celebration.