President Donald Trump on Thursday made an unannounced trip to Arlington National Cemetery, where he and first lady Melania Trump planted American flags at the graves of several fallen U.S. service members.
The president’s outing came ahead of Memorial Day on Monday, when he will be in Japan for a state visit and summit meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Trump departs for Tokyo on Friday.Trump last appeared at the cemetery in December after facing criticism for declining to visit the historic military graveyard on Veterans Day 2018.
The president was also roundly mocked during a trip to France in November for canceling a planned visit to a cemetery for American troops outside of Paris because of rainy weather.
Trump’s Arlington visit follows new reports that the Pentagon is considering deploying thousands of additional troops to the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Iran.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine