 "Trump waves his finger at Melania on Marine One. Were they having a spat?")
Did United States President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, get into a spat on board Marine One outside the White House? Speculations arose after the couple’s fervent, finger-wagging conversation was caught on camera this week.
Some compared the exchange with the row between French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, captured on camera just as they were about to disembark from the plane earlier this year. But were the Trumps fighting, apparently like the Macrons?
Here’s what we know.
Dispute between Trump and Melania?
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were filmed through the window
of Marine One, having an animated exchange, as it landed on the South Lawn on Wednesday, September 24, night.
The clip that went viral on social media shows Trump pointing his finger at Melania and the first lady shaking her head in response.
The US president and his wife were returning after attending the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
Some critics compared the visuals to those of the Macrons that emerged in May. French First Lady Brigitte Macron was seen shoving her husband Emmanuel Macron, with the French president recoiling and turning his head. After spotting the camera, he broke into a smile and gave a little wave.
The entire world saw the visuals as the incident occurred when the couple were about to disembark from the plane in Vietnam to begin a tour of Southeast Asia.
What we know about Trumps’ exchange
Lip readers have decoded the conversation between the Trumps, the clip of which has now gone viral. They say the couple was discussing the escalator breaking down when they arrived at the UN headquarters.
Speaking to Daily Mail, forensic lip-reader Jeremy Freeman said he believed the Trumps were talking with astonishment about the escalator incident at the United Nations General Assembly this week.
He said, “From my interpretation, I don’t think Donald Trump was having a go at Melania Trump - but at the shenanigans at the UN.”
According to him, Melania told Trump of the escalator incident: “You just continued”, to which he replied: “It was unbelievable. How can you do that?”
“Donald, look at me,” the First Lady apparently told her husband before they got off the helicopter and walked across the lawn hand in hand.
Another British lipreader, Nicola Hickling, told Daily Mail that she thought Trump was being protective of his wife.
According to her, the US president told Melania at one point: “I can’t forgive them, they tried to hurt you.” To this, the first lady replied: “We can’t do this, we should stay safe, you’re not safe.”
Trump then retorted: “They’re done. We must challenge them,” according to Hickling.
‘Escalator-gate’
On September 23, President Trump and Melania Trump arrived at the UN headquarters in New York for his address to the General Assembly. An escalator used by the couple stopped just as they stepped on it.
The first lady, standing in front of Trump, stumbled when the escalator halted, video shows.
“It’s amazing that Melania and I didn’t fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face first,” Trump later wrote online about the incident. “It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly or, it would have been a disaster.”
Trump claimed the incident was “absolutely sabotage,” citing a Times of London report that UN staffers had joked that they might switch off the escalator and make Trump walk to the hall to give his speech.
The US president called for arrests to be made in ’escalator-gate’. The White House previously said that the US Secret Service was looking into the incident.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement that Trump’s videographer, who boarded the escalator several seconds before the first couple, likely set off an emergency stop.
The videographer was seen walking backwards up the steps.
“A subsequent investigation, including a readout of the machine’s central processing unit, indicated that the escalator had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator,” Dujarric was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.
“The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing,” he said. “The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above.”
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