Melania Trump to take the gavel at UN Security Council in historic first

FIRST ON FOX: Melania Trump is set to make history as the first first lady to preside over the United Nations Security Council, with a speech focused on peace through education, Fox News Digital has learned.

The United States assumes the United Nations Security Council presidency Monday. 

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The first lady’s speech will mark the first time a first lady from any country — and the first time a sitting U.S. first lady — will preside over the security council as its members consider education, technology, peace and security.

The first lady is expected to stress the importance of education and knowledge in creating ongoing and everlasting peace, a source close to the first lady told Fox News Digital.

"The first lady is reinventing her role and this marks just another groundbreaking achievement for her," the source told Fox News Digital. "It is the first time in history a first lady will address the security council, keeping to her mission of empowering the next generation with education and technology."

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz told Fox News Digital that it is "fitting that the first lady, a passionate and tireless advocate for children, will preside over the first day of America’s presidency of the Security Council."

"Her message of helping the helpless through education and technology fits exactly with our mission at the U.N., to achieve meaningful and lasting peace," Waltz told Fox News Digital. "As a green beret and now diplomat, I have seen firsthand that peace prevails where children are taught and not terrorized." 

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The U.N. Security Council’s presidency rotates among its members on a monthly basis. 

The U.N. Security Council consists of 15 member states, with five permanent members: the United States, China, France, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom, and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms, including Bahrain, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Liberia, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia.

The speech comes as the first lady continues her push as a champion of online protection of children and youth through her "Be Best" initiative launched during the first Trump administration.

In 2025, the first lady garnered support on Capitol Hill for the passage of the Take it Down Act, which was signed into law by the president in May 2025. The law punishes internet abuse involving nonconsensual, explicit imagery.

The first lady also launched a nationwide Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge, which invited every student and educator across the nation to "unleash their imagination and showcase the spirit of American innovation" by visiting AI.gov to sign up.

The first lady also recently launched an audiobook of her memoir, using AI audio technology in multiple languages.

"Today, the world is poised to have greater access to humanity's knowledge base because of artificial intelligence," a source close to the first lady told Fox News Digital.