Featured Image Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images/JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, Politics
Jess Hardiman
Topics: Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, Politics
With Donald Trump entering the White House today, it’s hard not to forget how things panned out last time.
After all, even on his first inauguration day back in January 2017, things didn’t go entirely smoothly...
People watched on as Barack and Michelle Obama handed the power over to Trump and wife Melania, with many noticing that their encounter in front of the White House front steps looked particularly awkward.
Donald walked up the stairway without his wife, and when Melania eventually made it up to the Obamas, she handed Michelle a blue box with a white ribbon tied around it as they embraced.
Melania smiled as she thrust the present into her hands, but Michelle looked baffled, at one point accidentally side-eyeing the cameras as she shuffled about with the mystery box.
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The former First Lady later explained there was a very good reason why things seemed so fraught, explaining more about that fateful day in a 2018 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“It was a lovely frame,” she revealed of the gift, which was wrapped in a signature Tiffany & Company blue box.
But it wasn’t the present itself that was the issue, more so the timing and nature of its presentation.
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The foursome’s meeting was obviously a crucial photo op for the day, but as Melania handed the box to Michelle, things were thrown off course slightly as it hadn’t been part of the meticulously-coordinated script.
“There's all this protocol - I mean, this is like a state visit, so they tell you that you’re going to do this, they’re going to stand here,” Michelle told Ellen DeGeneres.
“Never before do you get this gift, so I’m sort of like, 'okay'."
She’d tried turning around to look for somewhere to place the box so that she could pose for a picture, but there was a Marine standing to her left who did not budge.
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"No one would come and take the box!" Michelle added.
Placing it on the ground would obviously look like a pretty brutal snub, even if that wouldn't have been the intention, so Michelle eventually gave up and turned back, accepting she'd have to pose with the box in her hands.
Thankfully, her husband then stepped in to 'save the day', saying: “No, no, no. Hold on a second.”
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Barack then grabbed it and took it inside the White House, as the others assumed their position for a photo.
As for what happened to that 'lovely frame'? That's anyone's guess.