A video of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the Kentucky Derby more than two decades ago resurfaced on Saturday, May 2, coinciding with the launch of the 2026 Kentucky Derby.
The unearthed clip, which surfaced on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows a pre-presidential Trump, now 79, being interviewed at the 1999 Kentucky Derby, with Melania, his then-20-something-year-old girlfriend, standing alongside him. While Trump dominated the conversation, Melania warmly greeted the reporter with a “hello” after Trump introduced her following the interviewer asking him who “this lady was” who was “next” to him, referring to the former model.
“This is Melania Knauss from New York, from Austria,” Trump said, using her maiden name since the couple had yet to wed and she was not yet Melania Trump. The pair did not marry until 2005, and later welcomed their now-20-year-old son, Barron Trump, whom Melania says “life is on the brink.”
The clip emerged as a broadcaster halted the 2026 Kentucky Derby coverage to attend to a medical emergency.
Social media users were quick to ridicule Trump for incorrectly identifying Melania as being from Austria, when she actually grew up in Slovenia, which was part of Yugoslavia at the time.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
