The White House announced Friday that first lady Jill Biden will travel to Waukesha, Wisconsin, next week–three weeks after the Christmas parade massacre.
Darrell Brooks Jr. allegedly drove his SUV into a crowd of parade attendees killing six people and injuring more than 60. He is charged with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide.
The first lady will travel to Waukesha on Wednesday with second gentleman Douglas Emhoff.
It is unusual for a White House to send a first lady to fulfill the president’s “comforter-in-chief” role in times of national tragedy.
It is unclear what level of engagement the first lady and Emhoff will have with victims and their families, but it is likely that they will address the attack in some fashion.
News of Jill Biden’s trip broke after Biden received criticism for leaving early on an extended Thanksgiving holiday to Nantucket rather than traveling to Wisconsin to comfort the victims and their families. Biden also flew to Minnesota to promote his infrastructure bill a week later and did not stop in Waukesha.
At the time, the White House argued that a potential trip could be too disruptive to the community.
“Obviously, any president going to visit a community requires a lot of assets, requires taking their resources, and it’s not something that I have a trip previewed at this plan–point in time,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.