Trump offers Macron marriage advice after ‘shoving' incident
Donald Trump has offered Emmanuel Macron marital advice after the French president was shoved in the face by his wife Brigitte.
Mr Macron and his wife sparked a global furore on Sunday after the French first lady was filmed pushing her husband into his face, moments before they exited their plane in Vietnam.
Asked if he had any advice for his French counterpart, Mr Trump recommended they keep any physical confrontations out of public viewing.
'Make sure the door remains closed,' he quipped to reporters in the Oval Office, during a joint press conference with Elon Musk to mark the Tesla billionaire's departure from government.
The president went on to pour cold water on speculation about a rift in the pair's marriage.
'They're fine,' Mr Trump said. 'They're two really good people I know very well, and I didn't know what that was all about, but I know him very well. And they're fine.'
Mr Musk later joked that a black eye he was sporting during the press conference was not given to him by the French president's wife.
'I wasn't anywhere near France,' he said about the bruise, before explaining it was given to him by his five-year-old son, X, who he allegedly invited to punch him in the face.
Footage, shot by the Associated press news agency in Hanoi, showed Mr Macron standing alone as the plane's door opened.
Suddenly, the arms of his wife, who was off-camera, could be seen through the doorway emerging from the left before she pushed him in the face with both hands.
Mr Macron appeared taken aback but swiftly regained his composure and turned to wave through the open door.
The couple then walked down the plane's staircase without Mrs Macron taking her husband's hand.
Footage of the incident, along with photographs of Mr Macron appearing to look angry, quickly spread on social media.
The Elysée Palace initially claimed the footage was AI-generated, only to later admit the images were real but were in fact a sign of 'closeness' and horseplay after a 16-hour flight.
'It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh. It was a moment of closeness,' said an Elysée aide.
Mr Macron later blamed 'crackpot' conspiracy theorists for seeking to intensify rumours around the state of his marriage.
In a bid to quell speculation, Mr Macron and his wife made light of the shoving incident as they arrived in Indonesia on Wednesday.
The president performed a tongue-in-cheek wave for the cameras before appearing at the top of the stairs laughing.
Instead of a shove, after a few seconds of suspense, Mrs Macron appeared, all smiles. The couple then locked arms, and descended the stairs side-by-side to greet officials.
Addressing the shoving incident, Mr Macron said: 'My wife and I were squabbling, or rather we were joking, and I was taken by surprise. Now it has become a kind of planetary catastrophe, and some are even coming up with theories.'
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