Hanoi, Vietnam — French President Emmanuel Macron’s workplace on Monday downplayed an incident during which his spouse appeared to push his face away as he arrived in Vietnam to start a Southeast Asian tour.
Video shot by The Related Press in Hanoi on Sunday night reveals Macron’s aircraft door opening, revealing him. His spouse Brigitte’s arms then emerge from the left of the open doorway, she locations each fingers on her husband’s face and offers it a shove.
The president seems startled however shortly recovers and turns to wave by way of the open door. She stays hid by the plane physique, making it unattainable to see her facial features or physique language.
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They proceed down the staircase for the official welcome by Vietnamese officers, although Brigitte Macron doesn’t take her husband’s provided arm.
The video clip circulated quickly on-line, promoted notably by accounts which are habitually hostile to the French chief.
Macron’s workplace initially denied the authenticity of the pictures, earlier than they have been confirmed as real.
Later, Macron informed reporters that he and his spouse had simply been joking round.
“We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife,” he mentioned, calling studies on the incident overblown: “It becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.”
A detailed affiliate of the president earlier described the incident as a pair’s innocent “squabble.”
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One other member of his entourage additionally performed down the importance of the incident.
“It was a moment when the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by joking around,” the second supply informed reporters, together with AFP’s.
“It’s a moment of togetherness. No more was needed to feed the mills of the conspiracy theorists,” the supply added, blaming pro-Russian accounts for damaging feedback concerning the incident.
The Macrons bought married in 2007, however they met when the president was nonetheless in highschool, and she or he was a trainer.
Vietnam is the primary cease on an nearly week-long tour of Southeast Asia for Macron, the place he’ll pitch France as a dependable different to america and China amid financial uncertainty fueled by the 2 world giants’ ongoing commerce tariff struggle.
He will even go to Indonesia and Singapore.
