In a groundbreaking move, Donald Trump extended an invitation to his wife to join him in signing an executive order. On Thursday, First Lady Melania Trump joined the President at the White House for the signing of an order that aligns closely with her advocacy for children’s welfare. The executive order focuses on fostering collaboration between private and public sectors to aid teenagers transitioning out of foster care. After signing the order, Trump invited Melania to add her signature as well, marking an unusual historical moment.

President Trump humorously noted that neither he nor Melania resorted to using an autopen for their signatures. Following the signing, Melania offered brief remarks highlighting the importance of the initiative, with the President praising her eloquence, especially given her linguistic prowess. Melania, a polyglot, speaks Slovenian, English, French, German, Italian, along with a regional Serbo-Croatian dialect from her native former Yugoslavia.

While Melania’s signature holds no legal weight, it signifies a ceremonial first, as no previous first lady has signed an executive order. Earlier in May, she also made history by becoming the first first lady to sign a bill into law. The Take It Down Act, which she strongly supported, aims to protect victims of revenge pornography. During a spring event in the Rose Garden, upon signing the bill, Trump once again invited Melania to endorse the document with her signature, reinforcing her influential role in these legislative processes.

President Trump’s order launches the first lady’s new directive under her Be Best initiative to help support workforce and career development and secure educational and scholarships opportunities for children in foster care. It was Trump’s first open press event after signing a resolution the night before reopening the government following the longest federal shutdown in US history.

The continuing resolution will fund most of the government through January 30, 2026 with full-year appropriations for necessities like veterans benefits, SNAP assistance and military construction. While Trump did not say anything about reaching that deal, he did go on a tangent about how the East Wing will look differently after his ballroom construction is completed.

The president turned around during his remarks in the East Room following his wife’s speech and looked at the wall behind him. He said that would be the entrance to his new ballroom and that in the future president would be able to host a lot more people at the White House. ‘And right behind me, by the way, in about two years from now, we’ll use a much bigger room – because we had to turn away a lot of people,’ Trump said.

‘That’s a knock-out panel,’ he continued. ‘It looks pretty nice right now, but it’s gonna look a lot better in a little while. And we’re going to go from this room to a room that seats a few more people and it’s going to be beautiful.’ The ballroom will be able to host thousands of people, while any room in the current residence and structure can only hold hundreds at the very most.

But Trump’s project angered many in Washington who were blindsided when the entire East Wing of the White House was demolished last month to make way for the new construction – especially since the pricey project came in the midst of a government shutdown. The Senate passed a short-term funding bill on November 11 in a 60-40 vote, with eight Democrats and one independent crossing the line to side with Republicans.

On Wednesday the House finally agreed in a 222-209 late-night session to pass the legislation to reopen the government after they enjoyed a more than 50-day recess. Trump stayed in the Oval Office until 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday night to sign the continuing resolution that officially ended the longest shutdown on record.