President Donald Trump and Melania Trump are set to celebrate the first lady’s birthday up in the air – with plans to dine on Air Force One, the president revealed.
‘I’ll take her for dinner on the Boeing. I’ll take her for dinner on Air Force One,’ Trump told reporters while traveling aboard the presidential aircraft en route to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.
Melania’s 55th birthday is on Saturday, the same day leaders and clergy from around the world will mark the passing of the pontiff at the Vatican.
Trump and the first lady are set to attend the service on Saturday morning and then fly back to New Jersey.
Given the tight turnaround and the circumstances, an elegant Roman meal for two doesn’t appear to be in the offing.
‘She’s going to have a great birthday. She’s got a working birthday,’ Trump said, when reporters asked about his plans.
‘She’s up front. I should send her back. You want to have somebody answer questions?’ Trump joked.
‘I’ll send her back into the lion’s pit. Susie – let’s send her back to the lion’s pit,’ he continued, indicating chief of staff Susie Wiles, who is accompanying him.
When DailyMail.com, who is traveling with the president, followed up on whether he was taking his wife to dinner or had a present, Trump revealed that he might not have one – then immediately transitioned to tariffs that have caused a global trade war.
‘I’ll take her for dinner on the Boeing. I’ll take her for dinner on Air Force One. Haven’t had much time to buy presents. Things are working out for us. People are starting to understand how good tariffs are for us,’ he responded.
His comments about their plans came after Trump took the rare step of publicly embracing the first lady in public, putting his arm around her waist as he boarded Marine One to leave the White House for Rome.
Trump, 78, acknowledged the time crunch in other remarks to reporters, where he also talked up tariff negotiations, with no deals yet announced.
‘It’s a little disrespectful to have meetings when you’re at the funeral of the pope. But I’ll be talking to people. I’ll be seeing people. I’m speaking to people from all over the world on the tariffs,’ Trump said.
He said he was ‘going to try and see a couple of people that are important to what we’re doing.’
On China, the world’s Number Two trading power, he called to ‘open China – that would be a big win.’