White House unveils official portrait of US First Lady Melania Trump

Washington, DC [US], January 28 (ANI): The White House on Monday unveiled official portrait of US First Lady Melania Trump. In the image released in Black and White, Melania Trump is dressed in a suit, standing in front of a window with the Washington Monument in the rearview.

While sharing the new portrait on X, US First Lady wrote, "First Lady Melania Trump's Official White House Portrait."

Regine Mahaux, a Belgian photographer, who also photographed Melania Trump's 2017 portrait, has taken her picture, CBS News reported. The US First Lady's portrait in 2017 was in colour and it was a close-up of her face.

Before the inauguration, the Trump transition team released official portraits of US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance. In the image, Trump and Vance both wore blue suits and blue ties while standing in front of the US flag, CBS News reported.

Last week, US President Donald Trump made a visit to California and expressed his dismay at the devastation caused by wildfires, CNN reported. Melania Trump accompanied him on the visit.

During a visit to tour damage from Hurricane Helene flooding in North Carolina, Trump said the state "has been abandoned by the Democrats" and suggested he might eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The trip is Trump's first visit outside Washington since his inauguration on Monday.

"This is probably one of the best examples of it not working," he said in North Carolina -- a swing state he won three times. Trump sought to contrast his leadership with what he's said was Democrats' mismanagement, as per CNN report.

He then said he may soon abolish the agency and instead send money directly to states to manage their own disaster relief efforts. When he was asked how he would solve North Carolina's challenges, Trump said he is "not really thinking about FEMA right now."

"When there's a problem with a state, I think that that problem should be taken care of by the state. That's what we have states for -- they take care of problems, and a governor can handle something very quickly," CNN quoted Trump as saying.

He said FEMA "has been a very big disappointment," and described it as slow, overly bureaucratic and expensive for the federal government. "FEMA's turned out to be a disaster," he added. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)