Mar 4, 2025 - Politics & Policy
Melania Trump's guest list for Trump's address to Congress
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First lady Melania Trump during a roundtable discussion on the "Take It Down Act" in the Mike Mansfield Room at the Capitol on March 3 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
First Lady Melania Trump invited more than a dozen guests with "stories about the disaster wrought by the previous administration" to President Trump's address to Congress, the White House said Tuesday.
The big picture: Melania Trump's guest list includes individuals who represent key tenets of Trump administration policy.
- Trump is expected to use his Tuesday address to highlight the accomplishments of his first month in office and claim that he's leading "the renewal of the American Dream."
The First Lady's guests include:
- The widow of Corey Comperatore, Helen Comperatore and her two daughters, Allyson and Kaylee. Corey Comperatore, a former Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company chief, died while shielding his family when a gunman opened fire during a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
- The mother and sister of Laken Riley, Allyson and Lauren Phillips. Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student was killed by an undocumented immigrant who had previously been arrested on theft charges. The man convicted of killing Riley was sentenced to life in prison.
- Marc Fogel, a schoolteacher who was arrested in August 2021 in Moscow for carrying about a half-ounce of medical cannabis. In 2022, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison in Russia. He was freed by Russia last month in a prisoner exchange. Fogel's mother, Malphine Fogel, will also be in attendance at the address.
- Elliston Berry, a 15-year-old in Texas who was the victim of "computer-generated deepfakes created by a bully at her school intended to humiliate and degrade Elliston and her friends," per the White House.
- Melania Trump joined a roundtable on Capitol Hill on Monday to back a bipartisan bill that seeks to increase protections against the non-consensual dissemination of sexual images, including those created through AI.
- Stephanie Diller, the widow of Jonathan Diller, a New York City Police Department officer who was killed during a traffic stop in Queens last year.
- Jeff Denard, who has worked for almost three decades at a steel plant owned by Nucor Steel, per the White House.
- The White House said that his "good paying, middle class job has allowed Jeff to serve as volunteer firefighter, provide a loving home to dozens of foster children, and organize his fellow steelworkers to respond to natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene."
- Alexis Nungaray, the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old who was killed by two undocumented men while she was on her way to a convenience store in Houston.
- January Littlejohn, who sued the Leon County School Board after her middle school allegedly allowed her 13-year-old daughter to transition without her parent's knowledge. A federal judge dismissed the case in 2023, per the Tallahassee Democrat.
- Payton McNabb, a former high school athlete in North Carolina, who was at the White House last month when Trump signed an order banning transgender women and girls from competing in girls' and women's sports, per Fox News. In high school, she was injured during a volleyball game by an opponent who is transgender, per the White House.
- Haley Ferguson, a former foster child and senior at Middle Tennessee State University. She received a Fostering the Future scholarship, which was launched by Melania Trump's organization, Be Best.
- Roberto Ortiz, a longtime U.S. Border Patrol agent, and U.S. Navy and California State Guard veteran who, according to the White House, has "been shot at repeatedly by cartel members while performing his duties near the Rio Grande River in Texas."
Go deeper: What to know about deepfakes bill backed by Melania Trump
