Melania Trump to skip Republican midterm convention
First Lady's absence confirmed by White House official as dozens of lawmakers also plan to skip the event.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Source: MEGANatalie Harp was photographed alongside Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Friday, September 5.
Photograph: RadarOnline (embedded from source)
What this story says
- First Lady Melania Trump will not attend the Republican Party's midterm convention in Dallas on September 9 and 10.
- A White House official confirmed Melania Trump's absence to The Independent and the Washington Examiner.
- At least 45 Republican lawmakers told Politico they would skip the convention.
- Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the convention.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 8 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
42/100
Craft
55/100
Hype
68/100
8 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
First Lady Melania Trump will not attend the Republican Party's midterm convention in Dallas on September 9 and 10. A White House official confirmed her absence to The Independent and the Washington Examiner. At least 45 Republican lawmakers told Politico they would skip the convention, with many citing prior obligations or a desire to campaign in their districts. Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the event.
Melania Trump's absence
Melania Trump will not attend the Republican Party's midterm convention in Dallas on September 9 and 10, according to a White House official who spoke with The Independent and the Washington Examiner. The convention is intended to bolster the GOP's chances in the midterm elections. Donald Trump was initially scheduled to speak only on September 10, but his plans changed as the event struggled to generate enthusiasm. The Daily Beast reported that only two congressional Republicans in battleground districts had confirmed their attendance.
What the coverage left out
None of the left- or centre-rated reports mentioned Natalie Harp being photographed with Donald Trump in the Oval Office on September 5, or that she wrote letters to Donald Trump in 2023 expressing devotion and a desire for a closer role. No right-rated outlet ran this story.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 1 time, most recently on 6 Sept 2026, 02:15, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
5 rated outlets
- Left-rated reports led on Melania Trump's absence from the Republican midterm convention, with headlines such as 'Melania Trump: First Lady Lets Husband Donald Sit' from News.de and 'Melania set to skip Trump’s midterm convention in latest high-profile snub' from The Independent. These reports noted that a White House official confirmed her absence to The Independent and the Washington Examiner. The left-rated reports also highlighted that at least 45 Republican lawmakers told Politico they would skip the convention. Atlanta Black Star reported that Melania Trump's decision comes as dozens of Republican candidates and lawmakers say they will skip the event. Crooks and Liars framed Melania Trump's absence as her 'serv[ing] her husband yet another BRUTAL snub' and suggested her decision was made as Donald Trump was 'desperately scrambling to save whatever slim hope he has left for the midterms'.
Centre
2 rated outlets
- Centre-rated reports focused on Melania Trump's expected absence from the Republican midterm convention. Newsweek reported that First Lady Melania Trump and Sen. John Cornyn are among the high-profile names expected to miss the event. RadarOnline.com reported that Natalie Harp was photographed with Donald Trump in the Oval Office on September 5, and that Melania Trump would not accompany Donald to Dallas for the convention. RadarOnline.com also detailed letters Natalie Harp wrote to Donald Trump in 2023 expressing devotion and a desire for a closer role, and noted that the Secret Service had reportedly been alarmed by some of her letters.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Melania Trump to skip Republican midterm convention?
- Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 71% are rated left, 29% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 8. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Melania Trump to skip Republican midterm convention left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Melania Trump to skip Republican midterm convention biased?
- Melania Trump to skip Republican midterm convention is one event reported by 8 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Melania Trump to skip Republican midterm convention?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Melania Trump to skip Republican midterm convention?
- 8 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Will Melania Trump attend the Republican midterm convention?
- No, First Lady Melania Trump will not attend the Republican Party's midterm convention in Dallas on September 9 and 10. A White House official confirmed her absence to The Independent and the Washington Examiner.
- Who else is skipping the Republican midterm convention?
- At least 45 Republican lawmakers have told Politico they will skip the convention, citing reasons such as prior obligations or a need to campaign in their districts. High-profile names like Senator John Cornyn are also expected to miss the event.
- Is Donald Trump scheduled to speak at the convention?
- Yes, Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the Republican midterm convention. His attendance is a key feature of the event, which aims to galvanise support for the GOP in the upcoming midterm elections.
Read it at the source
8 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
5- Melania Trump: First Lady Lets Husband Donald Sit - She Saves Her Way (opens News.de in a new tab)
- Key Trump Figure Reportedly Set To Skip GOP Midterm Convention In Texas Next Week (opens HuffPost in a new tab)
- Melania set to skip Trump’s midterm convention in latest high-profile snub (opens The Independent in a new tab)
The Independent — is The Independent biased? Our profile of this outlet
- 'The Check Didn’t Clear’: Melania Bails on Trump as Dozens of Republicans Ghost Him—and His Big GOP Show Starts to Crumble Into a Big Disaster (opens Atlanta Black Star in a new tab)
Atlanta Black Star — is Atlanta Black Star biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Trump Marriage Under Water As Melania Serves Her Husband Yet Another BRUTAL Snub (opens Crooks and Liars in a new tab)
Crooks and Liars — is Crooks and Liars biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
Centre
2Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
1How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.


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