Melania Trump jokes about her low profile in Rose Garden remarks

In a White House Rose Garden event on Thursday, newly public US First Lady Melania Trump playfully responded to media speculation about her prolonged absence from the public eye over the past month. "Good afternoon. I heard you missed me," she quipped, eliciting laughter from the crowd. Accompanied by her 80-year-old husband, former President Donald Trump, the pair walked arm in arm to the podium, with Donald seated in the audience as Melania addressed the event.

The occasion also served as a fundraiser for university scholarships, backed by IndyCar and the Fox Corporation, ahead of an IndyCar race through Washington D.C. to commemorate the country's 250th Independence Day. The focus, however, remained on Melania, who had not been seen in public since July 19. She had skipped several high-profile events, including the White House Correspondents' Dinner on July 24 despite having attended the inaugural version in April, which was interrupted by a gunman.

According to an NBC analysis, Melania Trump has been keeping a much lower public profile in her second term as First Lady, attending roughly half as many public events as she did during the comparable period of her first term. Her return to the public eye arrives amid growing speculation about Natalie Harp, Trump's 35-year-old hyper-loyal executive assistant.

The White House vehemently denied allegations that Harp was among a select few individuals to secretly swap from Air Force One with the President in Turkey following a security threat. Harp has been a constant companion to Trump throughout his second term, often assisting with social media posts and handling printed information, a role that has earned her the nickname "human printer." She was notably absent from the Rose Garden event.