First Lady Melania Trump hosted the opening stamp of the US Post Service to honor former First Lady Barbara Bush at the White House on Thursday – in the absence of former President George W. Bush.
A number of families and friends of Bush’s family, including Neil Bush and Dorothy Bush Koch, filled the eastern room for the event to respect the former First Lady, who died in 2018 at the age of 92 years.
Dorothy Bush Koch, the youngest child of the President and First Lady of -First Lady, talked about the impact of his mother in turning the White House into “True House.”
Melania Trump, who has made several appearances in Washington for the first three months of her husband in the office, celebrated the political life and the Barbara Bush family.
“Mrs. Bush’s legacy is marked by his respect for tradition while also breaking up with the convention,” said Melania Trump.
First Lady Melania Trump and Dorothy Bush Koch revealed the US postal service stamp to respect former First Lady Barbara Bush, on May 8, 2025, in the east room of the White House in Washington, DC
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Other children, George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, did not attend the event.
George W. Bush, who has maintained a relatively low profile since leaving the office, was in Washington for the inauguration of President Donald Trump earlier this year. He sat near the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and former President Barack Obama.
But he has made Trump, a fellow Republican, with the length of the arms and both have a history of criticism.
ABC News reaches the George W. Bush office to comment on Thursday.
George W. Bush does not support Trump in his president’s campaign. In 2020, he said he did not choose Trump or Joe Biden, but instead wrote in the Condoleezza Rice, who served as State Secretary between 2005 and 2009.
He and his father, the late President George HW Bush, criticized Trump in a 2017 book, where they expressed concern about their impact on Republican parties and conservative values. In a rare public speech in the same year, George W. Bush condemned the political brand adopted by Trump and his supporters, although not explicitly mentioned Trump’s name.
Former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush and former President Barack Obama attended the inauguration of Donald Trump in Capitol Rotunda, 20 January 2025.
Saul Loeb/Pool/Getty Images
Barbara Bush once said about Trump, “I don’t understand why people for him.”
Trump’s criticism of the Bush family increased during the 2016 Republican presidential election when he pursued Jeb Bush as “low energy.” He then boasted defeating “Bush Dynasty” after the victory of his election.
Trump also repeatedly criticized George W. Bush’s response to terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the Iraq War.
“Bush leads a failed and unattractive presidential president. He shouldn’t have taught anyone!” Trump said that in 2021 after George W. Bush gave a 20 -year commemoration speech in which he warned that domestic terrorism pose threats such as foreign terrorists.