US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump shared an awkward moment on Tuesday during his inauguration.
While walking up to the podium to take the oath of office inside the US Capitol, he leaned in for a kiss on Melania’s cheek but her wide-brimmed hat blocked it. The top of Melania’s hat hit Trump’s forehead, as the couple settled for an air kiss. The hat was created by designer Eric Javits which she wore atop her slicked-back hair, according to the New York Post.
Trump tried to kiss Melania at the 60th Presidential Inauguration, but her hat had other plans. pic.twitter.com/w1kaXk4oxj
— Rio (@mario_balkans) January 20, 2025
Melania was sitting next to her son Barron Trump, she wore Adam Lippes tailored navy silk wool coat, a navy silk wool pencil skirt and an ivory silk crepe blouse. She paired it with her big hat and black leather gloves.
In addition to Melania and Barron, Trump’s four older children — Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany — were at the inauguration. Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner, their kids Arabella, 13, Joseph, 11, and Theodore, 8, Tiffany’s husband, Michael Boulos, and Eric’s wife, Lara Trump, were also in attendance.
Among the other 600-person audience, included Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush.
The inauguration ceremony was held indoors under the Capitol Rotunda as against the initially planned outdoor venue in view of cold wave conditions in the US capital city.
In a fiery inaugural address, the 47th US president described January 20 as the “liberation day” and declared that “America’s decline is over” as changes will come “very quickly”.
Later, Trump joked about his wife’s large hat and said that she nearly blew away earlier when the two stepped outside to see Biden off. “She almost blew away,” Trump said with a laugh, joking that, “She was being elevated off the ground.” First Lady Melania Trump visibly struggled to keep the hat on her head amid wind gusts and the force of the military helicopter that carried Biden from the Capitol.
