What appeared to be a fervent, finger-wagging row between President Trump and his wife Melania caught on camera outside the White House was actually an animated discussion about the escalator breaking down when they arrived at UN headquarters, according to lip readers.
The widely shared clip shows the president pointing his finger at the first lady, who responds by shaking her head during the exchange filmed through the windows of Marine One as it landed on the South Lawn on Wednesday night.
While many online have speculated it reveals a dispute between the pair — similar to French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife caught tussling as they got off a plane earlier this year — experts believe the conversation was about the viral escalator incident at UN headquarters in Manhattan the day before.
“From my interpretation, I don’t think Donald Trump was having a go at Melania Trump — but at the shenanigans at the UN,” forensic lip reader Jeremy Freeman, who has testified as an expert witness in UK court cases, told the Daily Mail.
The lip reader believes that Melania said Trump “just continued” when the escalator suddenly shut down while they were on it.
“It was unbelievable. How can you do that?” Freeman believes the commander-in-chief replied.
“Donald, look at me,” she then tells him before they get off the helicopter and walk across the lawn hand in hand.
Trump called for arrests to be made after the escalator at the United Nations headquarters abruptly stopped working as soon as he and the first lady stepped onto it Tuesday ahead of his address to the General Assembly.
The first lady, standing in front of Trump, stumbled when the escalator gave out, 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 posted online about the incident. “It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly or, it would have been a disaster.”
Trump declared the moment was “absolutely sabotage,” citing a Times of London report that UN staffers had been overheard joking that they might switch off the escalator and make Trump walk to the hall to give his speech.
A second British lip reader, Nicola Hickling, similarly believes Trump was being protective of Melania in the moment caught on the helicopter.
“I can’t forgive them, they tried to hurt you,” Trump said to his wife at one point on the helicopter, Hickling told the Daily Mail.
“We can’t do this, we should stay safe, you’re not safe,” she replied.
The president then responded: “They’re done. We must challenge them,” according to Hickling.
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