Privacy sought for Barron Trump, 11

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday renewed its request to the news media for privacy for President Donald Trump’s young son, Barron, after a conservative news and opinion website criticized the casual attire he wore home after the family’s summer vacation.

The 11-year-old wore shorts, a T-shirt that read “On Your Mark Tiger Shark” and loafers without socks for Sunday’s return trip to the White House from the family’s home on Trump’s private golf club in central New Jersey.

Trump wore a suit and tie while Barron’s mother, first lady Melania Trump, wore a sleeveless, calf-length yellow-and-white dress.

Ford Springer, The Daily Caller columnist, wrote that since Barron doesn’t have any responsibilities as the president’s son “the least he could do is dress the part when he steps out in public.”

“Barron was returning to the White House from New Jersey on Sunday and while the president and first lady traveled in their Sunday best, young Barron looked like he was hopping on Air Force One for a trip to the movie theater,” the column said.

Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Trump, appealed to the media to give Barron space to be a kid.

“As with all previous administrations, we ask that the media give Barron his privacy. He is a minor child and deserves every opportunity to have a private childhood,” Grisham said.

The White House also got bipartisan support from former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, who defended Barron on Twitter. Clinton was the subject of ridicule as a teenager growing up in the White House in the 1990s when her father, Democrat Bill Clinton, was president.