Donald Trump unleashes on helicopter crew as he departs Marine One at the end of Labor Day after a turbulent weekend
President Donald Trump was captured on video in an apparently heated exchange with the Marine One flight crew on Labor Day, capping a weekend that had already drawn attention for several unusual moments involving the president.
Video circulating online shows Trump standing in the doorway of Marine One and repeatedly gesturing toward the cockpit after the helicopter landed at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey on Monday afternoon. The exchange lasted about 16 seconds before Trump turned away and left the aircraft.
The footage was recorded around 4:30 p.m. after Trump flew from Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster to transfer to Air Force One for the return trip to Washington.
There is no audio in the footage, so it is not known what Trump said or what the exchange concerned. He can be seen pointing toward the cockpit several times before grasping the handrails and walking down the aircraft steps.
Marines passed without a salute
As Trump walked away from Marine One, he passed two Marines standing on either side of the aircraft steps and did not return their salutes.
Presidents commonly return salutes from military personnel, although doing so is a presidential custom rather than a military requirement. The practice has become a familiar part of presidential movements and past presidents have occasionally not returned salutes.
Trump’s failure to return the salutes drew attention because it came immediately after the exchange at the helicopter door.
White House response
The White House’s Rapid Response 47 account posted its own footage of Trump’s departure from New Jersey on Labor Day. The video showed Trump walking across the tarmac before boarding Air Force One.
The White House footage did not show the exchange at the Marine One door. In the independently circulated video, Trump can be seen gesturing toward someone inside the helicopter before ending the interaction and leaving the aircraft.
The White House has not directly commented on the exchange.
A weekend of unusual moments
The helicopter exchange came at the end of a Labor Day weekend that had already attracted attention for several other moments involving Trump.
Before leaving the Oval Office, Trump addressed the ongoing U.S. military conflict with Iran and made comments about its scale, duration and costs.
Trump spent Saturday golfing at Bedminster, where he was photographed with guests.
His Truth Social account shared a series of posts, including AI-generated images depicting him in fictional scenarios, as well as posts proposing a renaming of New Mexico and making a claim about lunar territory.
Scrutiny around aide Natalie Harp
Natalie Harp, a presidential aide who was aboard Marine One for the return trip, has also faced scrutiny over her close working relationship with Trump.
Harp’s official White House title is “special assistant to the President and executive assistant to the President.” She has also been closely involved in Trump’s Truth Social activity, with The New York Times previously reporting that she has typed and posted messages dictated by the president.
According to The New York Times, citing two people familiar with the situation, Harp sent angry messages on Trump’s behalf to Republican donor Miriam Adelson in 2024. The messages reportedly nearly cost Trump her support.
Harp’s relationship with Trump has also been described in books by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan and Michael Wolff. Haberman and Swan’s Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump described Trump’s unusually close relationship with Harp, while Wolff’s All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America examined concerns raised by members of Trump’s security detail about her interactions with the president.
Wolff quoted Trump dismissing those concerns by saying, “She just loves her president.”
A Vanity Fair excerpt from Wolff’s book reported that the Secret Service had viewed Harp as a potential danger to herself and Trump.