A seemingly tense exchange between US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump was captured on camera as Marine One landed on the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday night.
The footage, which quickly circulated online, showed the President gesturing with his finger while the First Lady shook her head. Despite speculation of a disagreement, the Daily Mail reported that the moment was not a heated argument.
Jeremy Freeman, a leading forensic lip reader who has served as an expert witness in UK courts, told the Daily Mail that the couple appeared to be reacting to the “escalator-gate” incident at the United Nations General Assembly earlier in the week. He explained, “From my interpretation, I don't think Donald Trump was having a go at Melania Trump - but at the shenanigans at the UN.”
Freeman suggested that Melania said to Trump, “You just continued,” to which he replied, “It was unbelievable. How can you do that?” He added that Melania seemed to say, “Donald, look at me,” before they disembarked from the helicopter hand-in-hand.
Another British lip reader, Nicola Hickling, interpreted the exchange as Trump being protective of his wife. At one point, she said Trump told Melania, “I can’t forgive them, they tried to hurt you,” to which she replied, “We can’t do this, we should stay safe, you’re not safe.” He then responded, “They’re done. We must challenge them.”
The interaction came just after Marine One returned from the UN in New York, following the couple’s unusual escalator incident ahead of Trump’s speech. The escalator abruptly halted, reportedly endangering them both. Trump later described the event on Truth Social: “It’s amazing that Melania and I didn’t fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face-first. It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly or it would have been a disaster.”
Trump also claimed the moment was deliberate sabotage, citing a “triple sabotage” with issues including the teleprompter and audio during his UN address. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said an investigation had been launched, warning, “If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator … they need to be fired and investigated immediately.”
Freeman and Hickling both concluded that the helicopter exchange was animated but centered on the escalator incident, not a personal dispute. The moment added to ongoing public fascination with the Trumps’ interactions, echoing earlier viral moments such as the couple’s awkward air kiss during Trump’s second inauguration and other public gestures of Melania’s visible frustration with her husband’s displays.
Earlier this year, Trump commented on a viral clip involving French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, noting, “Make sure the door remains closed. That was not good. I spoke to him. They're fine. They're two really good people. I know him very well, and I don't know what that was all about. But I know him very well, and they're fine.”
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