Melania Trump was seen pulling away from her husband when he attempted to hold hands with her as they disembarked from Marine One, leaving the president visibly exasperated.
Footage unearthed by the Daily Beast shows Melania spurning Donald Trump’s attempts at affection and Trump then appearing to remonstrate with her, just five days before the couple were seen having a heated exchange aboard the presidential helicopter on Wednesday night.
The awkward blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment was captured on film last Friday, Sept. 18, as Trump and Melania returned to the White House from their state visit to the U.K.
The pair also reportedly slept in separate beds at Windsor Castle during the trip and this latest clip will only fuel growing chatter that the first couple’s marriage is going through a rocky patch.
Author Michael Wolff told the Daily Beast Podcast in May that Trump and Melania are effectively “separated,” and “live separate lives.”
The White House has dismissed Wolff as a “lying sack of s–t” and “a fraud,” yet speculation about distance between the couple endures, with Melania reported to spend much of her time in New York and is rarely seen in public.
Last Friday’s contretemps came as the president and Melania stepped off Marine One and onto the South Lawn of the White House.
As the couple made their first steps off the stairs of the chopper towards the presidential residence, Trump’s right hand clutched her left hand in a show of affection for the cameras.
But it is only when the clip is zoomed in that you see Melania clearly pull away from his grasp and let go altogether.
They then walk apart with Trump waving with his right hand to the waiting journalists, and Melania looking away from her husband.
Trump is then seen making a second attempt to hold his wife’s hand, stumbling into her as she does so.
This time Melania—wearing oversized dark sunglasses, despite it being nighttime—accepts his affection, and they walk hand-in-hand with Trump giving his trademark close-fisted salute to the media.
Just before they enter the White House, at this point with their backs to the camera, an exasperated looking Trump holds out his left arm as he appears to remonstrate with Melania.
The emergence of the clip comes after video from Wednesday night showed Trump and Melania in another terse exchange aboard Marine One as they returned from his United Nations speech in New York, at which she was present.
The president can be seen pointing a finger at her, while Melania shakes her head.
Moments later, they were filmed walking hand-in-hand across the South Lawn—together, but visibly strained.
The pair had earlier that day got stuck on an escalator together at the U.N.’s Manhattan HQ, leading Trump to rant to its General Assembly about the building, and the organization more generally.
Melania’s role as a “part-time” first lady continues to fuel rumors about her 20-year marriage to Trump.
She is seen infrequently in D.C., and skipped the Aug. 15 Alaska summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin, as well as a later White House meeting with Ukrainian premier Volodymyr Zelensky.
CNN has counted just 19 public days for her this term, compared with 40 at the same point in the previous presidency.
During September’s U.K. state visit, the Daily Mail’s “Ephraim Hardcastle” column said the couple slept in separate suites at Windsor Castle.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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