Melania Trump steps in to help as Trump mishears reporter during White House tech dinner: Here’s what happened

“After your phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky today, do you plan to speak with Russia’s President Putin in the near future?” a reporter asked during the AI-focused event.

“What?” Trump mumbled softly, turning toward the first lady. “If you’re going to speak with President Putin in the near future,” Melania repeated, according to The Mirror.

Also Read: ‘How much will you invest in US?’: Donald Trump grills Tim Cook after saying Apple CEO is ‘coming home’

Dinner took place White House Rose Garden

The dinner took place in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden and was attended by about two dozen tech leaders, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, Google CEO Sergey Brin, Sundar Pichai, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Since retaking office earlier this year, many tech leaders have scaled back policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion to show loyalty to Trump. Last month, Cook presented Trump with a gilded glass trophy at the White House to mark Apple’s $100 billion commitment to US manufacturing.

Netizens react to the incident

The video of the Trumps at the dinner quickly went viral on social media, drawing a range of reactions from viewers. One of the users on X wrote, “Nice to see that level of coordination—small gestures can make a big difference in public appearances.”

Another user chimed, “They just look great together any time anyway. I’m so proud of them.”

A different user penned, “It’s beautiful that his wife repeated a sentence? The bar is really low.”

Another user advised Trump a hearing device and wrote, “Time for a hearing device. This has been happening quite a bit lately.”