US president cancels press conference after video captured group of leaders apparently ridiculing him
Footage emerged late on Tuesday that appears to show world leaders joking about Trump at the summit, which has been marked by sharp disagreements over spending and future threats, including China and Turkey’s role in
Johnson asks Macron: “Is that why he was late?” before Trudeau interjects: “He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.”
Trudeau adds: “Oh, yeah, yeah yeah. He announced … ”
After an edited cut in the film, the footage later shows an incredulous Trudeau telling the group: “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.
“Well, he’s two-faced,” Trump said of Trudeau, before going on to make a reference to the defence spending of
“I find him to be a very nice guy but you know the truth is that I called him out the fact that he’s not paying 2% and I can see he’s not very happy about it. He’s not paying 2%
The US president later tweeted: “When today’s meetings are over, I will be heading back to Washington … We won’t be doing a press conference at the close of Nato because we did so many over the past two days. Safe
This evening, he posted a brief video featuring clips of his appearances during the summit under the message: “Thank you @Nato!”
Overall the episode is only likely to underline the sense that the supposed leader of the free world is privately
Asked about the video footage at his own press conference, Johnson shook his head and said: “That’s complete nonsense. I don’t know where that’s come from.”
Privately Downing Street will be relieved that the
W 🍊 seen as electorally toxic in the UK
Trump had startled his aides on Monday by holding two lengthy impromptu freewheeling press conferences, one with the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and another with President Macron.
The comments had marked a change of tone from sentiments he voiced at the outset of his presidency, when he dismissed the alliance as obsolescent and questioned the value of article 5, the collective defense clause that
It is not the first time Trump has had a run-in with Trudeau. Last year he withdrew US support for a G7 declaration prepared for a summit in Charlevoix, Quebec.