West Wing Reads Melania Trump Participates in Reopening of Washington Monument

Melania Trump Participates in Reopening of Washington Monument “First lady Melania Trump, alongside a group of local fourth graders, helped cut the ribbon to re-open the Washington Monument, which had been under construction in the wake of a 2011 earthquake,” Kate Bennett reports for CNN. “When it first opened to the public in 1888, it used to take more than 10 minutes to reach the top of the 500-foot Washington Monument, by steam-propelled elevator. Today, it's automated, and the ride in a posh new lift with video screens is just 70 seconds.” Click here to read more. “If you haven’t heard, President Trump has declared war on California, the auto industry and the world’s climate. Or that’s what liberals are saying about his Administration’s plans to revoke California’s waiver that lets it set national fuel economy rules that raise costs for consumers across the country,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes. “The Trump Administration isn’t prohibiting [automakers] from manufacturing more fuel-efficient and electric cars. Liberals call the President a totalitarian, but he’s the one giving consumers and businesses a choice.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar are right to push back against the United Nations on abortion, Grace Melton writes for Fox News. “We remain gravely concerned [about] aggressive efforts to reinterpret international instruments to create a new international right to abortion,” the two Cabinet secretaries wrote in a joint letter to diplomats. “She’s done a lot with the place. Like anyone who has ever spruced up their home, Melania Trump will have a few new touches to showcase Friday when guests visit the White House for only the second state dinner of the Trump presidency,” Darlene Superville writes in The Associated Press. “There’s refreshed wall fabric in the Red Room, repurposed draperies in the Green Room and restored furniture in the Blue Room. And those are just some of the home improvement projects the first lady has overseen.”