Melania Trump was the keynote speaker at a ceremony for newly naturalized US citizens Friday morning at the National Archives. The former first lady delivered remarks at the event, where people from Haiti, Nigeria, El Salvador, and many other countries took their oaths of citizenship.
“For me, reaching the milestone of American citizenship marked the sunrise of certainty,” Trump said at the ceremony, which Politico described as “to put it mildly, an unusual billing.”
Her husband, former President Donald Trump, reportedly said in 2017 that Haitians “all have AIDS” and that Nigerians would be unlikely to “go back to their huts” after they’ve visited the US. El Salvador was among the jurisdictions he famously referred to as “shithole countries” the next year. He’s currently under indictment for allegedly withholding records from the National Archives.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
