Donald and Melania Trump appeared to have a very public spat on Marine One on Sept. 23, and it was caught on camera.
It’s unclear what the tone of their voices was because Sky News only captured their hand gestures and facial expressions, but they appeared to be tense. The conversation appeared to start off normally, but within seconds, the first lady’s smile disappeared from her face as the president pointed at her animatedly. As they exited the helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House, their body language told a tale of strain. (You can see the photo here.)
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They walked hand-in-hand in a stiff manner. Melania looked down, trying not to attract any attention, while Donald Trump gave a rigid wave to the cameras. Their return to Washington, D.C. came after a rocky visit to the United Nations General Assembly. He was not pleased with how “three very sinister events” played out during his time in New York City.
U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump step on an escalator as they arrive for the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) on September 23, 2025 in New York City. World leaders convened for the 80th Session of UNGA, with this year’s theme for the annual global meeting being “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.” (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
He started on the wrong foot when the escalator powered down while he and Melania were riding on it upstairs. “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. It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly, or it would have been a disaster,” he wrote on Truth Social on Sept. 24.
Donald Trump believed the incident “was absolutely sabotage,” but the United Nations released a statement on Sept. 23 that they believe Donald Trump’s “videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function” on the escalator and stopped it in its tracks. In addition to the escalator snafu, there were also issues with Donald Trump’s teleprompter and audio during his speech.
He complained in his social media post, “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.” The Daily Beast‘s sources noted that “delegations typically bring their own laptops and teleprompter operators, and that the UN was not running it for the president’s speech.”
Donald Trump also revealed that Melania, “who was sitting right up front,” wasn’t able to hear his speech because the sound was off in the auditorium and audio was only available in “the interpreters’ earpieces.” He claimed, “This wasn’t a coincidence; this was triple sabotage at the UN. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
So, it wasn’t a good day for the president and first lady, and it appeared to have spilled over to their return trip. Donald and Melania Trump usually keep their cool in public together, but it sounds like it was a bad day at the office.
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