Melania Trump rounds off Africa tour in Egypt
CAIRO: Smiling for the cameras in the shadow of the pyramids, US First Lady Melania Trump wrapped up her four nation Africa tour in Egypt on Saturday, far from the political tumult back home.
In rare comments to the press, Trump said her trip — which also took in Ghana, Malawi and Kenya — was designed to “show the world that we care”.
Asked about reports earlier this year that her husband President Donald Trump referred to African nations and Haiti as “shithole countries', the First Lady said “nobody discussed that with me and I never heard him saying those comments”.
“I don't always agree what he thinks and I tell him that”, Mrs Trump said.
“I give him my honest opinion and honest advice and sometimes he listens, and sometimes he doesn't.”
“I have my own voice and my opinions and it's very important for me that I express what I feel”, she added.
The low-key tour came to an end as her husband was set to score a big political win after days of acrimonious deadlock inside and outside the Senate over his Supreme Court pick.
The US Senate is expected to confirm conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh Saturday as the next Supreme Court justice.
Washington has been gripped by high drama for days, from the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford — who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault — to protests against his nomination and an FBI investigation into the allegations surrounding the judge.
Mrs Trump said Kavanaugh was “highly qualified for the Supreme Court” and was glad that both Ford and Kavanaugh had been given their say in front of the Senate.
Asked if she believed Dr Ford's testimony, the First Lady indicated she did not want to comment directly.
“I think all the victims, they need — we need to help all the victims, no matter what kind of abuse they had, but I am against any kind of abuse or violence”, she added.
Mrs Trump finished the Egypt leg of her tour with a visit to the Giza pyramids near Cairo, where she posed at the foot of the Spinx, wearing a white panama hat.