Donald Trump interrupted and shut down by Macron over 'misleading' Ukraine claims in tense meeting [View all]
Last edited Tue Feb 25, 2025, 01:59 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: Daily Mirror
The world two leaders met on Monday in Washington as the French president physically leaned over and grabbed Trump's arm while he spoke about Europe 'loaning financial aid' to Kyiv
French President Emmanuel Macron publicly interrupted Donald Trump to correct another of the US President’s falsehoods over Ukraine.
The rare diplomatic rebuke today at the White House highlighted the underlying tensions in the two leaders' discussions despite their outwardly cordial tone. It came as Trump revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will accept European peacekeeping troops as part of a potential peace deal.
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“Just so you understand, Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They’re getting their money back,” Trump said, pressing his argument that US taxpayers would see no return. Before he could continue, Macron swiftly intervened, physically reaching over to grab Trump’s arm in a pointed effort to set the record straight.
“No, in fact, to be frank, we paid,” Macron insisted. “We paid 60 per cent of the total effort. It was like the US: loans, guarantees, grants.” Macron also took aim at Trump’s remarks about frozen Russian assets in Europe, pushing back against the idea that they were being used as security for loans to Ukraine.
Read more: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/donald-trump-interrupted-shut-down-34741654
There are various videos online of the press conference, and they make interesting viewing.
Macron was in good form, and diplomatically dominated Trump while portraying their exchange as good-humoured banter.
After he interrupted Trump as described in the excerpt above, Macron categorically labelled Russia the aggressor in the conflict and said pointedly that Ukraine should be first in line to be compensated - by Russia - as a result of negotiations.
Macron then grinned broadly as Trump was asked if he'd refer to Putin as "a dictator" as he'd done with President Zelensky. Trump hesitated, ducked the question by saying it wasn't a word he used lightly, then waffled to cover his lack of substantive response.
Bloomberg has the full video: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-02-24/trump-macron-discuss-ukraine-russia-full-remarks-video
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