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US First Lady Jill Biden in Abu Dhabi on Last Solo Foreign Trip

First lady Jill Biden visits Kasr Al Hosn Fort, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
First lady Jill Biden visits Kasr Al Hosn Fort, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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US First Lady Jill Biden in Abu Dhabi on Last Solo Foreign Trip

First lady Jill Biden visits Kasr Al Hosn Fort, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
First lady Jill Biden visits Kasr Al Hosn Fort, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

US first lady Jill Biden toured the capital of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday as part of her final solo foreign tour.

Biden, 73, arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night after stopping in Italy and visiting her ancestral home of Gesso in Sicily.

On Thursday Biden traveled to the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and Qasr Al Hosn, a historic site. She was expected to speak at a summit later in the day, The AP reported.

Biden has come to the country previously. In March 2016, she accompanied her husband, then the vice president in the last year of the Obama administration, on a trip to the Emirates.

This trip comes after President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden over federal crimes after previously pledging that he wouldn't. The president dodged questions about the pardon while he was on a trip to Angola.

For her part, Jill Biden on Monday said: “Of course I support the pardon of my son.”

Biden will travel next to nearby Qatar. After that she'll fly to Paris and join President-elect Donald Trump and other dignitaries in Paris to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. She'll then return to Washington.

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US Intelligence Officials to Appear at House Hearing After Senate Grilling Over Leaked Military Plan 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appears during a Senate Committee on Intelligence Hearing on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP) 
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appears during a Senate Committee on Intelligence Hearing on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP) 
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US Intelligence Officials to Appear at House Hearing After Senate Grilling Over Leaked Military Plan 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appears during a Senate Committee on Intelligence Hearing on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP) 
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appears during a Senate Committee on Intelligence Hearing on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP) 

President Donald Trump's top intelligence officials will brief House lawmakers Wednesday on global threats facing the US — though they'll likely be questioned again over their use of a group text to discuss plans for military strikes in Yemen.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel are among those who were asked to testify before the House Intelligence Committee as part of its annual review of threats facing the US.

At a similar hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard briefed lawmakers on her office's threat assessment, noting that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea continue to pose security challenges to the US, as do drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

The presentations from top Trump appointees reflect Trump's foreign policy priorities, including a focus on combating the flow of fentanyl, illegal immigration and human trafficking, and are taking place as Trump attempts to work out a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine three years after Russia's invasion.

Tuesday's hearing was dominated by questions about Ratcliffe and Gabbard's participation in a group chat on Signal in which they discussed plans to strike Houthi militants in Yemen. The group included a journalist, The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.

Gabbard and Ratcliffe have said no classified information was included in the messages, but Democrats have decried the use of the messaging app, saying that any release of information about timetables, weapons or military activities could have put US servicemembers at risk.

At Tuesday's hearing they asked Patel, who was not a participant in the text chain, if he would investigate. It's likely House Democrats will press Patel on the same question Wednesday.

The National Security Council has said it will investigate the matter, which Trump on Tuesday downplayed as a “glitch.” Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, who was also in the group chat.