US President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, were spotted in what appears to be a tense exchange as they landed back at the White House earlier this week.
The pair, who returned from the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Tuesday night (23 September), were seen having a heated conversation as Marine One touched down in Washington, D.C.
Footage captured by Sky News showed the couple seated opposite each other inside the presidential helicopter as they returned to the South Lawn.
In the clip, Melania, 55, is seen shaking her head and gesturing animatedly toward her 79-year-old husband before he interrupts her with a pointed finger.
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Once the exchange ended, the pair exited Marine One and walked hand-in-hand across the South Lawn, with Trump offering a wave to reporters as they passed by.
'A triple sabotage'
The UN visit in itself was full of drama, with Trump making the bold claim that he and his wife had been victims of a 'triple sabotage' following a row over an escalator that broke while the pair stepped on it.
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Due to the malfunction, Trump and Melania were forced to walk up the escalator instead. In his speech, which lasted nearly an hour, the president complained that it was time for countries to ‘end the failed experiment of open borders’, and that territories continuing the practice were ‘going to hell’.
He also took it upon himself to undermine UN efforts, celebrate his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, and claimed that ‘so-called green, renewable energy’ was ‘destroying a large part of the free world and a large part of our planet’.
'Bad teleprompter' and 'bad escalator'
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The bizarre speech also saw Trump slamming the venue for providing a ‘bad teleprompter’ and the ‘bad escalator'.
"If the First Lady wasn't in great shape, she would've fallen,” he joked in the speech.
After the meeting, Trump took to his social media site, Truth Social, to air his true feelings on the matter, calling the events ‘absolutely sabotage’.
“First, the escalator going up to the Main Speaking Floor came to a screeching halt. It stopped on a dime. It’s amazing that Melania and I didn’t fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face-first,” he wrote.
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“Then, as I stood before a Television crowd of millions of people all over the World, and important Leaders in the Hall, my teleprompter didn’t work. It was stone cold dark.”
'Sound was off'
The third ‘sinister’ event that Trump claimed took place was that the ‘sound was off’ so people in the hall couldn’t hear him.
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“World Leaders, unless they used the interpreters’ earpieces, couldn’t hear a thing,” he alleged.
“The first person I saw at the conclusion of the speech was Melania, who was sitting right up front. I said, “How did I do?” And she said, “I couldn’t hear a word you said.”
“This wasn’t a coincidence; this was triple sabotage at the UN. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
The Republican confessed he would be sending a letter to the Secretary General, demanding an immediate investigation into the events of the day.
He added that all security tapes from the escalator should be saved, especially the emergency stop button, and that the Secret Service is involved.
The UN has since responded to Trump’s allegations, claiming the escalator likely stopped because of a White House videographer who ‘accidentally triggered a safety mechanism’.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said it may have been the Republicans’ own videographer who was responsible for the mishap.
She said: “The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects from accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing.
"The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function."
Tyla has contacted the White House for comment.
Topics: Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Politics, US News, News
Rhiannon Ingle