Melania Trump is taking meetings with her staff, her office said, as the first lady hasn’t been seen in public for 19 days – since shortly before she had a procedure on her kidneys.
‘She has had several meetings internally with staff, and will continue to do so this week. We are focusing on her initiatives, and also some longer term planning for events such as the congressional picnic and 4th of July,’ her spokesperson Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
But she offered no indications when Melania Trump may be seen in public again.
Melania Trump was last seen in public on May 10, when she joined President Trump at Andrews Air Force base to welcome home hostages from North Korea.
The first lady’s office said she is having meetings with her staff to work on initiatives and plan the Congressional picnic and the Fourth of July celebrations. She announced her ‘Be Best’ campaign shortly before her surgery.
While her office said she is working, there have been no photos of her sent out by a White House that is image conscious and photo heavy.
The first lady herself has posted videos on social media of her work, such as one posted about the White House holiday decorations in December and another on her preparations for the first state dinner in April.
But there has been nothing about Melania Trump, leading to questions about why she spent a week in the hospital for an embolization procedure and her prolonged recovery at home.
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.
If the first lady isn’t planning on appearing in public until then, that’s nearly a month away.
Additionally the first lady announced her ‘Be Best’ campaign a few days before she went into the hospital.
When asked, the first lady’s office merely says she’s ‘doing well.’
President Donald Trump said last week the first lady is ‘doing great’ after her kidney surgery.
‘She’s doing great. Right there. She’s doing great,’ he said on the White House lawn last Friday morning before he left to give the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
‘She’s looking at us, right there,’ he added and pointed to a window in the White House residence above him.
The first lady was not visible to reporters on the ground.
She 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.
Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure on Monday, May 14, likely to remove a cyst from her kidney. President Trump visited her several times in the hospital.
While Melania Trump hasn’t been visible in public, she has been a presence on social media.
She spent a week in the hospital recovering, returning to the White House on Saturday, May 19.
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.
While she hasn’t been visible in public, she has been a presence on social media.
On Monday, she tweeted her thanks to service members and their families in honor of Memorial Day.
Her twitter account had a post two days after her surgery thanking her doctors and her Instagram account paid tribute to Medal of Honor winner Britt Slabinski last Thursday.
She also tweeted about the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, last Friday, writing: ‘My heart goes out to Santa Fe and all of Texas today.’
It’s unknown if the first lady, who is an active presence on social media, wrote those posts or if they were written by staff.
Under a kidney procedure such as the first lady’s, doctors block a flood vessel in order to stop blood flow to a specific area and stop a patient from bleeding.
After she returned to the White House, she thanked people for their good wishes.
‘Our office has received thousands of calls and emails wishing Mrs. Trump well, and we thank everyone who has taken the time to reach out,’ the White House said in a statement on Saturday May 19.
Melania Trump is not the first first lady to undergo surgery while living in the White House.
Laura Bush underwent neck surgery in 2007. She also had skin cancer removed from her shin in 2006.
Nancy Reagan had breast cancer surgery in 1987 and Rosalyn Carter had a procedure to remove a nonmalignant lump from her breast in 1977.
The president was subject to some social media rubbing after her return to the White House when he misspelled her name as ‘Melanie’ in a tweet welcoming her home.
‘Great to have our incredible First Lady back home in the White House. Melanie is feeling and doing really well. Thank you all for your prayers and best wishes!’ Trump wrote, before the tweet was swiftly deleted and replaced with a correct version.