Melania Trump returns to Washington after four-week absence

After a four-week absence from Washington, first lady Melania Trump returned to the White House on Saturday for an annual dinner and reception with the nation’s governors.

After a four-week absence from Washington, first lady Melania Trump returned to the White House on Saturday for an annual dinner and reception with the nation’s governors. “She worked very hard on making sure that everything was beautiful. And she’s very good at that,” President Donald Trump said in brief remarks to governors in the candlelit East Room, his wife seated nearby at a table filled with overflowing vases of white hydrangeas and tulips. While Melania Trump may be preparing the White House for visitors — she announced in a statement last week that tours of the historic home are reopening to the public — the first lady apparently has had less interest in spending time there. Since her husband took the oath of office on January 20, she has not spent significant time at the White House, according to sources with direct knowledge of her schedule. Melania Trump was an active presence during the first days of the president’s second term, but after joining her husband for a January 24 trip to natural disaster-ravaged North Carolina and California, hadn’t returned to Washington until Saturday. The first lady was expected to spend a majority of her time between New York, where son Barron is attending college, and Florida, CNN reported during the presidential transition. Sources familiar with her thinking insisted at the time that she would still be present for major events, including Saturday’s ball, and would have her own platform and priorities as first lady. But the past month suggests her time in Washington may be even more limited than expected, signaling a remarkable, if unsurprising, break in precedent for a first family.