President Donald Trump will not commemorate Juneteenth, despite previously taking credit for the relatively new federal holiday’s popularity.
“I’m not tracking his signature on a proclamation today,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. “I know this is a federal holiday. I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here. We’re working 24/7 right now.”
WHITE HOUSE LISTS NO JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION PLANS FOR TRUMP
Leavitt reiterated her appreciation for reporters also working on a federal holiday, this one marking the end of slavery in the United States, in her concluding remarks.
“I appreciate your being here on a federal holiday,” she said. “We’ll see you later.”
White House daily guidance regarding Trump’s public appearances on Thursday only included his participation in a swearing-in ceremony for the new U.S. ambassador to Ireland, Edward Walsh.
Juneteenth, which underscores June 19, 1865, the day on which Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, two years after the end of the Civil War, was first recognized as a federal holiday in 2021 under former President Joe Biden.
But even though Trump is not emphasizing Juneteenth on Thursday, he has embraced the federal holiday in the past, including telling the Wall Street Journal in 2021 he made it “very famous.” The president was alluding to his plans to hold a rally on June 19 before the 2020 election, his first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, before it was scrapped after complaints that it was politically insensitive amid the Black Lives Matter protests.
“I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous,” Trump told the news outlet. “It’s actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it.”
Regardless of Trump’s work undermining federal government diversity programs, including administration orders within departments not to host events for diversity months, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley did release a statement.
“On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to proclaim the end of slavery, delivering on the promise of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation,” Whatley wrote. “Juneteenth stands as a defining moment in our nation’s history as a celebration of liberty and a declaration of our God-given equality. 160 years later, this day serves as a clear reminder that unity and liberty are at the core of what it means to be American.”
Meanwhile, Biden will appear Thursday in Galveston to participate in a 160th-anniversary service at Reedy Chapel AME Church.
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“During the event, former President Biden will reflect on the historic significance of Juneteenth, the moral imperative to confront the legacy of slavery, and discuss key actions his Administration took to advance racial equity and ensure that America lives up to its highest ideals,” a Biden spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner.
Biden is “proud of his record of recognition of the history and contributions of black people to our country, including signing the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act — a bipartisan law establishing Juneteenth as the first new Federal holiday since the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday nearly four decades ago,” the Biden aide added.
