Melania Trump’s spokeswoman said the first lady is “open to visiting” basketball star LeBron James’s new $8 million school in Ohio for low-income and at-risk students, after the president derided James’s intelligence on Twitter.
“It looks like LeBron James is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation,” Stephanie Grisham said in an emailed statement. “Just as she always has, the First Lady encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today.”
Word of the possible visit by Trump to the I Promise School that James opened this week in his home town of Akron came hours after President Donald Trump tweeted about an interview James did on CNN.
“Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do,” Trump said on Twitter shortly before midnight on Friday, twice misspelling the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player’s name.
Grisham didn’t mention the president’s comment in her statement. She noted that the first lady’s platform, centered around the “Be Best” initiative, includes “visiting organizations, hospitals and schools.” Be Best has three main pillars, according to its page on the White House website, with one being social-media use.
Lemon’s interview with James was broadcast earlier in the week and rerun on Friday when Trump, who’s on vacation at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, caught up with it.