Former first lady Melania Trump is expected to attend the Republican National Convention next week, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The sources did not offer additional details on her schedule, including when she will be arriving and whether she’ll be speaking at the event.
Melania Trump has rarely joined former President Donald Trump on the campaign trail this election cycle, occasionally appearing at closed-door fundraisers and other private events at Trump’s private residences in Palm Beach or New York.
The former first lady has skipped several campaign rallies even as some of the other members of the family have attended.
She also did not appear in court with Trump during the hush money payment trial earlier this year while some other members of his family did.
CNN was the first to report that Melania Trump is expected to be at the RNC.
Melania Trump’s absence from the campaign trail is especially notable as other members of the Trump family ramp up their political involvement. Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump is now serving as co-chair of the Republican National Committee and Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, made his first campaign rally appearance at the Trump National Doral golf course on Tuesday.
Trump’s older sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., have increasingly been rallying and fundraising on behalf of Trump the past few months.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump has been focused on supporting the conservative LGBTQ organization Log Cabin Republicans — headlining a fundraiser for the group at Trump Tower in New York last Monday, where she helped raise $1.4 million, according to Bill White, one of the co-hosts and a longtime friend of Trump.
That was her second fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans this year, after she headlined a similar fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in April.
So far this year, she’s helped raise nearly $5 million for Log Cabin Republicans, which will be used for outreach initiatives for swing state voters — with a focus on suburban women, and gay and lesbian conservatives in those battleground states, White said.
The first and only public campaign appearance the former first lady has made this campaign cycle was on the day of the primary election in Florida last March. She was seen with her husband, the two walked away from the polling site arm in arm when Trump told reporters that he voted for himself.
Asked then if she would join the former president on the campaign trail, she replied, “Stay tuned.”
The following month, she attended a private fundraiser in Palm Beach, hosted by billionaire John Paulson, where Trump and top GOP donors raised more than $50 million.
In December, Melania Trump delivered remarks at a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives in Washington, but her husband did not attend the event with her.
