Trump Gives Update on Melania Health Status, Reveals Why She Hasn't Been Accompanying Him
President Donald Trump revealed Friday that first lady Melania Trump is not joining him for the upcoming summit in Singapore because of the scale of last month’s kidney operation.
Melania Trump underwent what the White House officially described as a kidney procedure on May 14. The first lady and her staff offered few details of the nature of the procedure.
Trump revealed the extent of her surgery while speaking to the media at the White House on Friday, according to the Washington Examiner.
“The First Lady is great. Right there. She has to — and she wanted to go — can’t fly for one month,” he said
Trump was then asked why she could not fly, the White House press pool report of Friday’s press conference said.
“The doctors say. She had a big operation. That was a — close to a four-hour operation. And she’s doing great,” Trump said. “Right there. And you know what? She is a great First Lady.”
Melania Trump made her first public appearances this past week since undergoing surgery. On Monday, she attended an event for Gold Star families. On Wednesday, she joined her husband for an event at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Tonight @POTUS & I were honored to pay tribute to our fallen heroes. Thank you to the Gold Star families that joined us in celebration & remembrance. pic.twitter.com/6oSh1t88G7
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) June 5, 2018
In May, the first lady’s office gave few details about her surgery.
“First Lady Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure to treat a benign kidney condition. The procedure was successful and there were no complications,” a statement from her office said at that time.
The lack of details led to intense speculation. The New York Times, for example, wondered at one point whether the White House language “meant she had a tumor.”
The president and first lady have each tweeted their ire with the media speculation.
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!
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) May 30, 2018
“I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I’m doing,” Melania Trump tweeted last week. “Rest assured, I’m here at the @WhiteHouse w my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!”
The president fired his salvo earlier this week.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2018
“The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania,” Trump tweeted this week. “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!”
…Four reporters spotted Melania in the White House last week walking merrily along to a meeting. They never reported the sighting because it would hurt the sick narrative that she was living in a different part of the world, was really ill, or whatever. Fake News is really bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2018
Stephanie Grisham, Melania Trump’s spokeswoman, followed up on the president’s remarks Friday in a statement, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“The statement I put out on May 14 was correct,” Grisham said. “Mrs. Trump had a successful embolization procedure. She cannot travel internationally yet, and is doing great.”
Grisham said later that the embolization was the only procedure performed during Melania Trump’s hospital stay, according to The New York Times.
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