President Donald Trump said Saturday that while first lady Melania Trump did not accompany him on his visit to Ireland, she was there "in spirit."
"My wife is here," Trump said Saturday during his speech in Dublin. "My wife is here in spirit. She's watching right now."
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He then joked about the first lady's reasons for skipping the trip.
"She said, 'Say hello,' because she's very friendly with these two people," Trump said, an apparent reference to Ambassador to Ireland Edward Walsh and his wife. "I said, 'Well, why don't you come with me?' She said, "Well, it's a seven-hour trip, maybe I'm not that friendly.'"
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He added, "I said, 'Put on a Make America Great Again hat and come on, let's go,' but uh, she sends her regards."
Though Melania Trump attended a Pentagon event on Friday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she has made scant public appearances over the summer. At one point, she went a month without being seen at a public event, joking to a crowd at the Rose Garden upon her return, "I heard you missed me."
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