Melania Trump Sighting: Twitter Not Quite Buying Reporter’s Claim He Saw FLOTUS In White House This Week
With Melania Trump making no public appearances, or even having been seen in a photograph or televised image, in more than three weeks, as reported by the Inquisitr, conspiracy theories about her whereabouts — or even if she is still alive — have gripped Twitter and social media over the past several days.
As The Inquisitr reported earlier this week, the location status of her personal Twitter account abruptly changed from Washington D.C. to New York City last weekend, fueling speculation that the 48-year-old who is the first naturalized U.S. citizen ever to become First Lady, according to Time, had for some reason moved out of the White House and back to New York City, where she had lived from 1996 until about five months into Donald Trump’s term.
She will skip her husband’s trip to Camp David this weekend, CNN reported and has not made an appearance with him, or solo, since May 10, after entering the hospital on May 14 for what was reported to be a one-day kidney procedure.
A Twitter message was posted on her official account on Wednesday in which she — or whoever wrote the post — said, “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!” But that did little to stop the speculation, as numerous online commentators simply assumed that the message was not written by Trump herself, as in a Wednesday Huffington Post article.
But also on Wednesday, Eamon Javers, a reporter for the cable business news network CNBC appeared to provide independent confirmation that the former Melania Knauss was alive, well and in Washington D.C.
Not that this will deter the conspiracy theorists, but I saw the First Lady walking with her aides in the West Wing yesterday afternoon. https://t.co/N9xadq7P0d
— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) May 30, 2018
Javers was correct. His claim that he saw “the First Lady walking with her aides in the West Wing yesterday afternoon,” did not “deter the conspiracy theorists.” Twitter users who saw the Javers post responded with a high degree of skepticism.
Did anyone else see this who can confirm? So far you are the only person outside of the President and his staff who claims to have seen her, and her latest tweet looks like it was worded by Donald.
— Kurt Christensen (@K_Christensen) May 31, 2018
Was she bleeding from her … wherever?
— Suze Woods (@IamSuz) May 30, 2018
One Twitter user even hinted that Javers was somehow working for Russia, using the Russian term for “disinformation.”
Thanks for the Deza!
— Pornastro (@Pornastro) June 1, 2018
And another posted a digitally fabricated version of a Melania Trump “tweet.”
#WheresMelania ? ?@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/LCLqPilk2g
— Kelly Mantle (@thekellymantle) June 1, 2018
Melania’s not been seen in 3 weeks, but she’s tweeted, and it sounds a lot like her husband. My biggest worry is he now
has TWO phones.— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) May 31, 2018
Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper followed up on Javers’ claim to have personally seen Melania Trump in the White House, but when the paper reached out for a comment to the First Lady’s spokesperson, reporters received no firm confirmation that Melania Trump was actually present in the White House, such as a photograph or audio recording, or any information regarding when she planned to re-emerge into the public eye.
“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,” Trump’s spokesperson Stephanie Grisham told the Mail in a prepared statement.
On May 25, reporters asked Donald Trump about the whereabouts of his wife. He pointed to a White House window saying, “She’s doing great. Right there. She’s doing great. She’s looking at us, right there,” People Magazine reported. But when reporters turned and looked in the window, there was no one there, according to the magazine’s report.
The news site Politico reported on Tuesday that it was Melania Trump herself who has ordered the tight secrecy around her condition activities and whereabouts.
At some point, the public has a right to see/know where the First Lady is. https://t.co/j0buEmOhUq
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) June 1, 2018
While United States First Ladies do not receive a government salary, according to Money magazine, despite their many official duties, they live at taxpayer expense in the White House fully equipped with staff and servants. But Melania Trump has also incurred additional costs to the U.S. taxpayer. When she lived at Trump Tower during the first five months of Donald Trump’s term, her flights on Air Force jets ran up a tab of nearly $700,000, according to Business Insider. Her security detail while at Trump Tower cost almost $150,000 per day.
