Melania Trump returned to the White House this week with a statement about AI innovation – and a statement piece.

The first lady joined President Donald Trump, donning a power pantsuit paired with a white undershirt, an oversized belt and tan stilettos. The double-breasted linen suit was designed by the Italian fashion house Max Mara, a favorite brand of the first lady.

Trump wore the pantsuit to a White House event focused on artificial intelligence that was attended by OpenAI founder Sam Altman and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

The Thursday, Sept. 4, appearance at the White House marked her return to public life after a two-month hiatus. Her last official public outing was in mid-July at the FIFA Club World Cup in New York City. Last month, the first lady threatened to sue Hunter Biden – the son of former President Joe Biden – for more than $1 billion if he doesn't retract the claim that she was introduced to her husband by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction," the first lady said at the AI event.

Later that day, she wore a black off-the-shoulder dress with a skinny belt as the Trump administration hosted an exclusive dinner for the tech world elite. Guests included Pichai, Altman and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Pichai's Google counterpart Sergey Brin.

Missing in action was Elon Musk, the Tesla, X, and SpaceX leader who said in a social media post that he "was invited, but unfortunately could not attend." Musk and the president had a public falling out earlier this summer.

The first lady has maintained a lowkey schedule during her husband's second term, sticking to a lighter calendar that reflects issues of pressing importance to her personal agenda.

However, in major moments, she has appeared alongside the president at a slew of engagements, including his second inauguration festivities, Fourth of July events, the funeral of Pope Francis, the White House Easter egg roll, visiting Texas flooding victims and the administration's multimillion-dollar festival and parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.

Contributing: Zac Anderson, Joey Garrison, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Melania Trump turns heads in power suit at White House after 2-month hiatus

Reporting by Jay Stahl, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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