Many believe that First Lady Jill Biden holds more power than is let on by the White House, at least in the form of influence over her husband. 

However, according to a report, President Joe Biden might have used a recent event to tamp down those optics.

The U.K. Mirror reported that body language experts are suggesting President Biden "lowered" Jill Biden's "level of authority" during the Teachers of the Year State Dinner held at the White House.

The event was the first of its kind, and some believe Biden upstaged his wife to some degree.

What's going on?

The first lady was the formal host of the event, which makes sense given that she's a teacher herself.

The Mirror noted:

A number of top educators and teachers' union leaders were wined and dined in the East Room on Thursday evening, with Dr Biden, who is a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College, hosting the event. What guests or the First Lady did not expect, however, was for the US president to make an appearance.

The 81-year-old president walked into the event and immediately grabbed the attention of the attendees, spewing some of his usual lines like "I'm Jill Biden's husband."

"I'm going to be very brief. First of all, I want to say how impressed I am with all that this woman does for the country and I mean that sincerely," the president said.

He added, "You all are the reason why we have hope about the future."

"What I realise is how damn hard she works every day and you all work every day so look, I just want to say I appreciate all you do. You're incredible, you are as I have said before, I got criticised for it the first time I said it, you are the kite strings that lift out national ambitions aloft."

Body language experts chime in

Judi James, a body language expert, explained to the outlet how she believes the president purposely upstaged his wife during the inaugural event.

"Despite his ‘I’m Jill Biden’s husband’ line, which is a comedy, mock-compliant take on their individual status levels, he seems to have gone on to perform at least three status signal gaffes that would have lowered Jill’s perceptual levels of authority and role of host in front of her guests. The ‘Jill Biden’s husband’ line is actually an ironic reminder that he’s the president," James said.

She added, "Then he stood behind his wife to deliver his little speech, leaving her staring out at the audience with no ability to participate, which made it look as though he really had gate-crashed. If he’s invited her to stand with him for a conversation it might have worked better."

While there's no telling what his intentions were, it sure does appear as if President Biden was reminding the audience who holds the power.