Leading Republicans Skip Key Vote to Attend Melania Trump's Mom's Funeral

Two Republican senators skipped the vote on the stopgap spending measure that would avert a government shutdown, opting to attend the funeral of former First Lady Melania Trump's late mother instead.

Senators Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott did not vote on the continuing resolution that the Senate took up on Thursday. Both senators were away from Capitol Hill having traveled down south to Palm Beach where the funeral of Amalija Knavs was being held in the morning.

"It was a privilege to be able to attend the memorial service for Amalija Knavs," Graham of South Carolina said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday afternoon. "Melania's tribute to her mother was eloquent and touching. It would be the dream of any parent to have their child feel about them the way Melania felt about her mother."

Scott's office told Newsweek that the Florida Republican and his wife were also at the funeral alongside Graham "at the invitation of the [former] President and Mrs. Trump."

Their attendance meant that neither senator was in Washington, D.C., when the Senate voted to pass the temporary legislation that would extend funding at current levels for some government agencies through March 1, and through March 8 for others. The vote came a day before a January 19 deadline, one of two that lawmakers are confronting early this year. The other is February 2.

Republican Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and John Kennedy of Louisiana also did not vote, according to the roll call sheet.

The Senate passed the CR by a vote of 77 to 18. Graham and Scott were both absent during the vote. The stopgap measure now heads to the House, where it is expected to meet opposition from the Republican conference's far-right flanks who could torpedo the legislation given the GOP's razor-thin majority.

Melania Trump announced the passing of her 78-year-old mother on January 9, citing an undisclosed illness.

"It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Amalija," the former first lady wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "Amalija Knavs was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity. She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law. We will miss her beyond measure and continue to honor and love her legacy."

The former first lady was joined at the funeral on Thursday by her husband, former President Donald Trump, and the couple's son Barron. Trump's children Ivanka, Donald Jr., Eric and Tiffany, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner, daughter-in-law Lara Trump and soon-to-be daughter-in-law Kimberly Guilfoyle were also in attendance.

Donald Trump's attendance at the service also meant that he would have to skip his ongoing defamation trial in New York, where columnist E. Jean Carroll is suing the former president for calling her sexual assault accusations false. A separate jury found Trump to be criminally liable for Carroll's claims that he assaulted her in a dressing room in the 1990s.

Trump had appeared in court a day before the funeral and announced over Truth Social that the judge in the trial "angrily and somewhat surprisingly" refused to grant him a "one day delay" so that he could attend Knvas' funeral on Thursday.

"[The judge] said, 'Absolutely not. The trial will go on just as it is. You can go to the funeral, or you can go to the trial, but you can't do both,'" Trump told reporters outside a Manhattan courtroom.

"I thought it was terrible. I thought it was terrible," he said. "So, he would rather have me miss the funeral or go to the funeral and miss the trial. And that's a nasty man. He's a nasty judge. He's a Trump hating guy."