The first lady in August wrote to Putin and had her husband hand-deliver the letter when he held a summit with the Russian president in Alaska. The letter called for peace in Ukraine.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has resulted in Russia taking Ukrainian children out of their country so they can be raised as Russian. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lobbied various world leaders for help reuniting children he says were taken by Russia after the invasion began.

Speaking at the White House, the first lady said that after Putin responded in writing to her letter, they established an “open channel of communication” regarding the welfare of those children.

Her announcement came as President Donald Trump’s own efforts to broker an end to Putin’s war in Ukraine have stalled, and he repeatedly has expressed frustration over the setback along with what he describes as his disappointment with Russia’s leader.

Melania Trump said the issue of the children is important to her.

“For the past three months, both sides have participated in several back-channel meetings and calls, all in good faith,” she said. “We have agreed to cooperate with each other for the benefit of all people involved in this war.”

One of her representatives has been working directly with Putin’s team to “ensure the safe reunification of children with their families.” She did not identify the representative.

“In fact, eight children have been rejoined with their families during the past 24 hours,” she said. “Each child has lived in turmoil because of the war in Ukraine.”

The Associated Press documented the grabbing of Ukrainian children in 2022, after which the International Criminal Court said it had issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.

Three of the eight children were separated from their parents and “displaced” to Russia because of front-line fighting, Melania Trump said. The other five were separated from family members across borders because of the conflict, including a girl who has gone from Ukraine to Russia, she said.

Melania Trump said she also raised concerns about children who were minors “at the time they were displaced by the war” but have since reached adulthood and currently live in Russia.

She said that their safe return requires “coordinated assistance” and that Russia has agreed to “rejoin individuals who have turned 18 within a short period of time.”

Reunification efforts continue, she added, and plans were underway for more children to rejoin their families in the “immediate future.”

“I hope peace will come soon,” the first lady said. “It will begin with our children.”

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This story has been corrected to show first lady Melania Trump said there were eight children, not eight Ukrainian children, reunited with their families.

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Vice President Kamala Harris is skipping attending the event in person as she campaigns in battleground states, breaking with presidential tradition. But she will appear on screen in a recorded video, organizers said.

The white tie dinner in New York raises millions of dollars for Catholic charities and has traditionally offered candidates from both parties the chance to trade light-hearted barbs and show that they can get along — or at least pretend to — for one night in the election’s final stretch.

It’s often the last time the two nominees share a stage before Election Day.

Trump is being joined at the dinner by his wife, Melania, who has been an infrequent presence on the campaign trail.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris shake hands before the start of an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The dais includes a mix of Trump allies and foes. Also sitting onstage is New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a successful civil fraud case against him and his business. New York’s embattled mayor, Eric Adams, other top city officials, business leaders and sports and media personalities are also in attendance. Adams was charged last month with accepting illegal campaign contributions and lavish overseas trips from Turkish officials and businesspeople. Former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was booed when he was announced.

Two members of Trump’s transition team — Robert F. Kennedy, who is attending with his wife, Cheryl Hines, and Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald — are also onstage.

The dinner is being emceed by comedian Jim Gaffigan, who has a history of criticizing Trump.

In 2020, he wrote on X, then known as Twitter: “We need to wake up. We need to call trump the con man and thief that he is.”

Harris’ campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on her plans, but her team had previously said that they wanted her to spend as much time as possible campaigning in battleground states that will decide the election, rather than detouring to heavily Democratic New York. Her team has told organizers that she would be willing to attend as president if she wins.

The Daily Caller was first to report that Harris would address the dinner by screen.

Trump had blasted Harris for declining to attend, accusing her in a social media post of being anti-Catholic. “Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined,” he wrote.

That was the kind of tone that drew boos in 2016 when Trump appeared at the dinner with his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, and unleashed a particularly nasty speech, calling her “corrupt” and accusing her of “pretending not to hate Catholics.”

Trump’s 2016 speech, delivered the night after their final debate, had begun on a less hostile tone.

Trump joked that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., used to love him when he when he was a Democrat. After noting that these kinds of dinner remarks typically begin with a self-deprecating joke, he quipped that he was “actually a modest person.”

One of his best lines of the night came at the expense of his wife as he complained that the media was biased against him.

“You want the proof? Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone loves it — it’s fantastic. They think she’s absolutely great. My wife, Melania, gives the exact same speech and people get on her case,” he joked in a reference to her convention speech that year, parts of which had been plagiarized.

But Trump’s remarks soon veered into bitterness as he turned to the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state and he praised “the wonder of WikiLeaks” for its revelations.

“Hillary believes that it’s vital to deceive the people by having one public policy and a totally different policy in private,” he said to jeers. “For example, here she is tonight, in public, pretending not to hate Catholics.”

Clinton also offered her share of personal digs, noting that the Statue of Liberty, for most Americans, represents a symbol of hope for immigrants.

“Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a ‘4,’” Clinton joked. “Maybe a ‘5’ if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair.”

Trump’s sense of humor is often cited by his supporters as key to his appeal. While he infamously glowered through former President Obama’s jokes at his expense during the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner, he also sometimes pokes fun at himself.

At several rallies this year, he has remarked on his hair after catching a glimpse of himself on screen.

“What the hell can you do. There’s nothing I can do about it. We’re stuck with it,” he joked at a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania last month.

Both Trump and President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, spoke at a virtual version of the fundraiser in 2020, which was moved online due to concerns over large gatherings at the height of the pandemic. Both candidates used their speeches not to tell jokes, but to appeal to Catholic voters, with Biden speaking about how his faith had guided him through moments of tragedy and Trump emphasizing his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who plays a prominent role in the dinner, offered a message to both men about the upcoming election. “I also dare remind them that Al Smith was a happy warrior, that he was never a sore loser,” he said.

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is named for the former New York governor, a Democrat who was the first Catholic to receive a major party nomination for president when he unsuccessfully ran for the White House in 1928.

The event has become a tradition for presidential candidates since Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy appeared together in 1960. In 1996, the Archdiocese of New York decided not to invite then-President Bill Clinton and his Republican challenger, Bob Dole, reportedly because Clinton vetoed a late-term abortion ban.

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Like all of you, I have reflected on the past year and how the invisible enemy, Covid-19, swept across our beautiful country. All Nations have experienced the loss of loved ones, economic pain, and the negative impacts of isolation.

As your First Lady, it has been inspiring to witness firsthand what the people of our great Nation will do for one another, especially when we are at our most vulnerable.

With nearly every experience I have had, I found myself carrying many individual’s stories home with me in my heart.

Most recently, my heart goes out to: Air Force Veteran, Ashli Babbitt, Benjamin Philips, Kevin Greeson, Roseanne Boyland, and Capitol Police Officers, Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood. I pray for their families comfort and strength during this difficult time.

I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week. I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me – from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda. This time is solely about healing our country and its citizens. It should not be used for personal gain.

Our Nation must heal in a civil manner. Make no mistake about it, I absolutely condemn the violence that has occurred on our Nation’s Capitol. Violence is never acceptable.

As an American, I am proud of our freedom to express our viewpoints without persecution. It is one of the paramount ideals which America is fundamentally built on. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect that right. With that in mind, I would like to call on the citizens of this country to take a moment, pause, and look at things from all perspectives.

I implore people to stop the violence, never make assumptions based on the color of a person’s skin or use differing political ideologies as a basis for aggression and viciousness. We must listen to one another, focus on what unites us, and rise above what divides us.

It is inspiring to see that so many have found a passion and enthusiasm in participating in an election, but we must not allow that passion to turn to violence. Our path forward is to come together, find our commonalities, and be the kind and strong people that I know we are.

Our country’s strength and character have revealed themselves in the communities that have been impacted by natural disasters and throughout this terrible pandemic that has affected all of us. The common thread in all of these challenging situations is American’s unwavering resolve to help one another. Your compassion has shown the true spirit of our country.

As I said over the summer, it is these defining moments that we will look back and tell our grandchildren that through empathy, strength, and determination, we were able to restore the promise of our future. Each of you are the backbone of this country. You are the people who continue to make the United States of America what it is, and who have the incredible responsibility of preparing our future generations to leave everything better than they found it.

It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your First Lady. I want to thank the millions of Americans who supported my husband and me over the past 4 years and shown the incredible impact of the American spirit. I am grateful to you all for letting me serve you on platforms which are dear to me.

Most importantly, I ask for healing, grace, understanding, and peace for our great Nation.

Every day let us remember that we are one Nation under God. God bless you all and God bless the United States of America.

Sincerely,

Melania Trump

Whitehouse.gov • Contributed

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