First Lady Melania Trump came out Saturday in support of NBA star LeBron James after her husband questioned his intelligence during a middle-of-the-night tweet, and has said she's open to visiting a school he is helping to open in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.
"It looks like LeBron James is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation, and just as she always has, the First Lady encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today," her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that was obtained by The Hill.
During a CNN interview, initially airing Monday and then repeated on Friday, James told host Don Lemon that Trump is using sports to "divide us," and when Lemon asked what James would say if he was sitting across from Trump, the basketball giant replied "I would never sit across from him. I'd sit across from Barack [Obama], though."
In addition to politics, James and Lemon discussed the NBA star's contributions to his hometown of Akron, Ohio, including the I Promise School, which is being opened through the efforts of the LeBron James Foundation and the Akron City Schools for at-risk children in grades three and four.
After midnight Saturday, Trump took to Twitter, where he called Lemon the "dumbest man on television" and said he "made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do."
He added "I like Mike," in an apparent reference to the ongoing arguments over whether James or NBA legend Michael Jordan is the better basketball player.
Melania Trump's spokeswoman added that the first lady is "open to visiting" the James-backed school.
Meanwhile, Jordan also came out in support of James, agreeing that the basketball giant, who will play for the Los Angeles Lakers this year after leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers, is "doing an amazing job for his community."
James has not responded to the president's taunt, instead posting a link about the new school. Lemon, though, hit back on Twitter, asking "Who’s the real dummy? A man who puts kids in classrooms or one who puts kids in cages?"
CNN also made fun of Trump's tweet, jabbing him with the comment "Sounds like @FLOTUS had the remote last night," in a reference to reports that the first lady had been observed watching CNN, a network her husband often ridicules, while on Air Force One.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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