Melania Trump remained deadpan after Donald Trump asked her to smile during a photo op, footage that quickly went viral has showed.
The US President and First Lady were touring a Catholic shrine in Washington DC on Tuesday when they paused to have their photos taken.
As the cameras start flashing, Mr Trump appears to mouth to his wife: "Can you please smile?" Mrs Trump barely flashes a brief smile before continuing to look deadpan.
Social media users were quick to poke fun at the footage, with one joking: "Melania looks happy here", and her named began trending on Twitter.
The visit to Saint John Paul II National Shrine came a day after Mr Trump declared himself the “president of law and order” and then walked to St John’s Episcopal Church across from the White House after Lafayette Park was forcibly cleared of protesters during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd.
Earlier on Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden mocked Mr Trump over his photo op during the first trip, saying: "The president held up the Bible at St John's church yesterday.
"I just wish he opened it once in a while instead of brandishing it. If he opened it, he could have learned something."
Critics have said the president was misusing religious symbols for partisan purposes during these visits.
However, the White House said Mr and Mrs Trump were observing a “moment of remembrance”, laying a wreath in a quiet visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington DC.
On Tuesday’s drive to the shrine, Mr Trump’s motorcade sped past onlookers, some of whom booed, held “Black Lives Matter” signs or made obscene gestures.
On Monday evening, he had appeared in the White House Rose Garden and threatened to deploy the military across the country to quell sometimes-violent unrest sparked by Mr Floyd’s death.
Mr Trump made his declaration to the sound of tear gas clearing largely peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park.
On Tuesday, Washington Archbishop Wilton D Gregory said he was “baffled” by Mr Trump’s visit to the shrine and called it “reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree”.
