Donald and Melania Trump got into a heated exchange aboard Marine One after returning from the United Nations General Assembly.
Footage shows the first couple sitting opposite each other on the helicopter as it landed on the White House South Lawn.
In the video, shot on Wednesday night, the president can be seen pointing a finger at his wife, who shakes her head in response.
Moments later, the couple disembarked the chopper, walking hand-in-hand across the South Lawn, looking somewhat tense.
Author Michael Wolff told the Daily Beast Podcast in May that Trump and Melania are effectively “separated,” and “live separate lives.”
“They clearly do not in any way inhabit a marriage as we define marriage,“ Wolff said. ”And I think maybe we can more specifically say they live separate lives. They are separated. The president of the United States and the first lady are separated.”
The White House has repeatedly labeled Wolff a “lying sack of s--t” and “a fraud.”
However, Wolff is not alone in his assessment. Chatter that the couple lives largely apart has swirled for months.
Last year, experts said Melania was unlikely to move back into the White House full-time if Trump returned—serving as a “part-time first lady”—and that appears to have come to pass.
She is based mostly in New York while her husband remakes the West Wing to his taste in D.C.
There are often long periods when the 55-year-old former model is not seen in the capital, or alongside Trump on his regular public outings.
She skipped the Aug. 15 Alaska summit where Trump hand-delivered her letter to Vladimir Putin, and was absent again when he welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders at the White House days later.
CNN reported on August 23 that Melania had only been seen in public on 19 days during Trump’s second term as president, compared to 40 at the same point in the previous term.
She was with Trump during September’s state visit to the United Kingdom, but according to the Daily Mail’s “Ephraim Hardcastle” column, the pair slept in separate suites inside Windsor Castle.
The incident aboard Marine One comes as Trump continues to rage that he and Melania were targets of what he called “three very sinister events” at the U.N.—a frozen escalator, a dead teleprompter, and muffled audio—demands he’s now wrapped into an official complaint.
The U.N. said Trump’s own entourage likely caused the escalator to stop after a safety mechanism triggered when a White House videographer rode the top plate backward to film the couple.
The teleprompter, U.N. officials pointed out, was run by Trump’s own team, while the chamber audio has long relied on headsets for translation.
The pratfalls led Trump to rant about the U.N.’s Manhattan building, as well as the failings it is perceived to have, as he told members their countries are “going to hell.”
However, the Daily Beast reported on Wednesday how his gripes are part of a 25-year grudge Trump has against the organization, which he himself concocted.
Trump is also not the first world leader to have a tiff on a presidential aircraft.
In May, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to be shoved in the face by his wife, Brigitte, a moment upon which Trump was more than happy to opine.
Asked this year if he had advice for the couple, Trump said: “Make sure the door remains closed.”
The Daily Beast has approached the White House for comment.
