Melania Trump did not join Akie Abe, wife of the Prime Minister of Japan, at either of her events Thursday as she had a event with her 12-year-old son Barron.
‘Mrs. Trump had a previously scheduled event with her son and was regrettably not able to host Mrs. Abe,’ the first lady’s communications director Stephanie Grisham told the DailyMail.com.
No other details were offered but Mrs. Trump may have joined her son, who attends the private St. Andrew’s School in Potomac, Maryland, for some end-of-school year activities. Barron also plays on a local soccer team.
Maryland schools usually break for summer recess some time in mid-June.
The first lady did tweet from her official account on Thursday afternoon, praising her husband’s administration for its work on drug addiction: ‘Proud of this administration’s continued efforts in combatting opioid abuse,’ she wrote.
The White House has been heavily promoting its Youth Opioid Prevention Ad Campaign.
The first lady tweeted praise for her husband’s administration for its work on drug addiction
Melania Trump did not join Akie Abe, wife of the Prime Minister of Japan, at either of her events Thursday as she had a event with her 12-year-old son Barron
Melania Trump attended her first official event with the media present on Wednesday
Akie Abe smiles at Tania DeLao, 10, sitting next to Justin Cave, 11, left, as they attend a presentation about Japan by students at LaSalle Backus Educational Campus
President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and son Barron Trump walk on the South Lawn in June 2017
Melania Trump and Akie Abe walk together during a tour of the Flagler museum in April 2018
Akie Abe, wife of Shinzo Abe, meet with school children at a Washington DC school and hosted military spouses at the Japanese ambassador’s home for lunch.
School children at the LaSalle Backus Educational Campus gave Mrs. Abe a gift during her visit Thursday morning. The school is participating in a year long program about Japanese culture.
Later in the day, Mrs. Abe attended a lunch with military spouses from the Japan U.S. Military Program at the Japanese ambassador’s residence.
The two women have spent time together before as Prime Minister Abe and President Trump have developed a close relationship since Trump took office.
The first ladies toured a marble-bedecked and gold-plated Gilded Age mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, in April during the Japanese couple’s visit to Mar-a-Lago.
Whitehall, a 75-room, 100,000-square-foot waterside retreat, was built by oil and railroad tycoon Henry Flager as a wedding present for his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler. It is now the centerpiece of the Flagler Museum.
In February of last year, Melania Trump took Mrs. Abe to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Florida.
That trip was Trump’s first solo public appearance as first lady. She then hosted Mrs. Abe for a private lunch later in the day at Mar-a-Lago.
Additionally, during the Trumps’ visit to Asia last November they made a stop in Japan where the Melania and Mrs. Abe visited Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School.
In a calligraphy class, Mrs Trump wrote the first kanji character for the Japanese word for ‘peace’, as Akie Abe wrote the second letter.
On Sunday, the U.S. and Japanese first ladies learned about the history of pearls at the historic jewelry shop, as part of her cultural program during the trip.
At Mikimoto’s flagship pearl shop, they went upstairs to a ‘hidden floor’ of the building, reserved for VIPs, to talk over tea and coffee. No details of their discussions were released.
Melania Trump made her second public appearance since her kidney surgery Wednesday afternoon when she joined the president at a briefing on hurricane preparedness at FEMA.
Trump reassured her ‘people love you … honey’ after he tore into the ‘fake news’ in a twitter rant defending his wife and accused the media of covering up the first lady’s recovery along with promoting ‘vicious’ rumors about her.
Japan’s First Lady Akie Abe attends lunch with military spouses from the Japan U.S. Military Program at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Washington
Akie Abe plays a game of ‘Janken,’ a game that is similar to ‘rock-paper-scissors,’ while visiting students at LaSalle Backus Educational Campus on Thursday
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his wife Akie, President Donald Trump and Melania Trump take a walk before a dinner in Palm Beach in April 2018
Melania Trump walks with son Barron and grandson Joseph Frederick Kushner towards the Marine One on the South Lawn in August 2017
Japan’s First Lady Akie Abe attends lunch with military spouses on Thursday in Washington
The first lady sat next to the president during the briefing. Reports from in the room said she looked well and healthy.
She attended a White House reception for Gold Star families on Monday night, which marked her 25th day she had not been seen in public since the White House announced she underwent a kidney procedure.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Trump fired off an attack about the questions that arose from her long stay outside the public eye.
Trump wrote that the press reported ‘everything’ from that his wife was ‘near death’ to having ‘left’ the White House or had a facelift. He also claimed, without providing any specifics or explanation, that the press had reported she had left him or been abused.
‘The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania. During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!’ Trump wrote.
At the event at the White House on Monday, Melania Trump appeared well as she was videoed walking in.
Melania Trump at the Gold Star event at White House as she makes first public appearance since her kidney surgery
Akie Abe plays a game of ‘Janken’ with students LaSalle Backus Educational Campus. The school is participating in a year long program about Japanese culture.
First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron at the turkey pardoning last November
Melania Trump shows her calligraphy next to Akie Abe while attending a calligraphy class of 4th graders at the Kyobashi Tsukiji elementary school in Tokyo in November 2017
Melania Trump and Akie Abe view artwork in the music room with Erin Manning, Executive Director of the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum in April 2018
She was wearing a black dress and six-inch black heels, several attendees told the DailyMail.com.
Melania stayed for the whole ceremony, which was nearly an hour long. She didn’t speak but sat in the front row as the president spoke, attendees said.
Speculation has been rife about the whereabouts of Mrs. Trump ever since she went in for an operation on her kidney on May 14.
Laughing off the rumors that have spread around Washington like wildfire, President Trump refuted speculation the couple have split, saying it was a no-go, ‘Isn’t that right, honey?’
It’s unknown when her next appearance will be after her attendance at Wednesday’s hurricane briefing.
The first lady will not accompany President Trump to the G7 summit in Canada on Friday or to his historic summit in Singapore on June 12.
She will not attend either of the prominent international events, Grisham told the DailyMail.com.
‘She will not attend the G7 and there are no plans for her to travel to Singapore at this time,’ Grisham said in a statement on Sunday evening.
Spouses often accompany leaders to G7 meetings. But Melania will not make the trip to Quebec on Friday, where President Trump is expected to get grief for his new tariff policy.
A year ago Melania joined her husband in Taormina, Italy, for a G7 meeting where she famously wore a $51,000 Dolce & Gabbana jacket. She participated in public appearances with the spouses of other G7 leaders, including a formal dinner and taking in a performance by La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra at the Ancient Theatre of Taormina.
She will also not attend the historic summit with South Korean President Kim Jung-Un in Singapore on June 12 where the president hopes to sign a nuclear disarmament deal.
Melania Trump visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters on Wednesday
President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump depart the White House in March 2017
U.S. first lady Melania Trump and Japan’s first lady Akie Abe visit Kyobashi Tsukiji elementary school in Tokyo in November 2017
Akie Abe and Melania Trump visit the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in February 2017 in Florida
The first lady has gone on other prominent international trips. She joined the president in Asia in November of last year and accompanied him to France in April of this year.
She also made a solo trip to Canada in September of last year to to lead the U.S. delegation to the Invictus Games, where she met with Prince Harry.
Before Monday evening, Melania Trump 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 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.
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.
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!’