Trump in France

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[h=1]'You're in such good shape! Beautiful!' What Trump told Brigitte Macron, 64, after awkward embrace when he refused to let her go[/h]

• Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron met with handshakes and embraces for each other's first ladies as the U.S. president was formally welcomed to Paris
• But his lingering grip on Brigitte Macron's hand seemed to go on with her appearing to be trying to get him to let go
• Then, after an hour-long tour of Les Invalides, the monument to the French military which houses the tombs of the country's heroes, he complemented the grandmother on her looks
• Meanwhile Emmanuel Macron, 39, embraced 47-year-old Melania Trump before the two first ladies exchanged kisses
• They held talks before a meal in the Eiffel Tower at one of the city's most renowned restaurants
• Trump will stay for the Bastille Day parade in Paris on Friday
• Macron is trying to build a relationship with Trump despite their differences on climate change and trade

 

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Donald Trump made a notable addition to his long list of questionable comments about women on Thursday as he told France's 64-year-old first lady: 'You know, you're in such good shape.'
The complement to Brigitte Macron was made in front of her husband Emmanuel, the 39-year-old French president, and Trump, 71, repeated it to him before turning back to Mme Macron and saying to her: 'Beautiful.'
The exchange was captured on a French official Facebook live stream. What was not captured was Melania Trump's reaction, as her back was to the camera.
However the American first lady, 47, seemed to move closer to Mme Macron and put her hand around her protectively as Trump spoke to her.
The awkward exchange came after an also-awkward lingering embrace with Mme Macron as she and her husband welcomed him and Melania to Paris on the eve of Bastille Day.
Trump kissed Mme Macron Parisian-style, once on each cheek, before taking both her hands for a prolonged grip, in which he appeared to jerk her left arm towards him as she appeared to be struggling to get him to let go.
It was an off-script start to a carefully-choreographed visit to Paris which on Friday will see Trump and Macron together for the Bastille Day celebrations, as well the couple dining together on Thursday evening at the Eifell Tower.
Trump spoke to Mme Macron as she and Melania left Les Invalides - the complex of buildings that serve as a monument to the French military in central Paris - for a tour of other site of the French capital.

 

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'You're in such good shape': An official French videographer was close to Trump as he delivered the awkward complement to the French First Lady

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Sisterhood: Melania Trump put her arm around Brigitte Macron as Trump spoke to her

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Le handshake: Brigitte Macron, 64, kept an extended grip on Trump's hand as he greeted her at Les Invalides, the French monument the country's military

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French greeting: Donald Trump embraced Brigitte Macron as her husband Emmanuel exchanged kisses with Melania Trump

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Friendship: After their husbands shook hands and embraced the first ladies, Melania Trump, 47, and Brigitte Macron, 64, exchanged kissed Parisian-style - once on each cheek. Melania lived in Paris while working as a model and is fluent in French

 

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Solemn: The presidents and the first ladies were in serious mood as they toured Les Invalides

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Group shot: The first American and French couples gathered on the stairs outside the museum of the French Army during the formal welcome ceremony

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Out the car: Macron and Trump shook hands and put arms on each other's shoulders as Trump left The Beast with Melania coming out behind

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Grip: Macron's handshake with Trump when they first met became notorious but on Thursday it was a more relaxed affair

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Family photo: After the embraces and kisses the two first families posed together. Macron put his arm around his wife and his other arm around Trump, but the U.S. first couple kept their arms to themselves

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The Beast is here: Cavalry of the French Republican Guard were on their mounts as Trump drew into Les Invalides

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More low key: Emmanueal Macron arrived in his much lighter official transport, a French-built SUV whose windows open

 

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Gallic chic: Brigitte Macron, 64, was in white with blue heels for the welcoming duties. She was taking Melania Trump on a tour of Paris's highlights

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Military welcome: A band of the French army played both national anthems for the leaders in the courtyard of Les Invalides

After he spoke to her he said 'we will see you later' and left with Macron, giving him a lift in the beast to the Elysee Palace for talks and a press conference.
The dynamics of the two presidents' age-gap relationships have been much discussed.
Macron's wife was his teacher at his Jesuit school and he declared his love for her as a teenager. She is a grandmother through the children of her first marriage.
The age gap between her and her husband is the same as between Trump, 71, and Melania, 47, his third wife.
There have been claims that the Macrons receive more attention over their December-May relationship than the Trumps do over their May-December one.
Trump and Macron had been welcomed by a military band during a ceremony that preceded a tour of the military museum.
The two presidents walked out together solemnly into an open square, where they listened to both countries' national anthems, then made their way toward the Cathedral of Saint-Louis des Invalides.
Trump put his hand on his heart as the Star Spangled Banner played. Macron stood still during it and La Marseillaise.

 

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First Lady Brigitte Macron of France and First Lady of the United States Melania Trump looked on from the steps of the cathedral as their husbands stopped to observe the building's architecture.
Macron placed his hand on Trump's back as they walked over to a receiving line of military officials and aides and shook each of their hands.
On the US side, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, National Security Advisor HR McMaster, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, National Economic Advisor Gary Cohn, Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell and Homeland Security Advisor Thomas Bossert were greeted first by Macron, then Trump, who trailed behind. He was introduced afterward to their French counterparts, shaking their hands as Macron gave him their names.
The presidents reunited with their wives when the ceremony concluded to pay their respects to Napoleon, the emperor seen as the founder of modern France - although he was defeated in 1815 at Waterloo - and Marshal Foch, the French general who was the supreme allied commander in World War I.
Macron was seen smacking his wife on the bottom by reporters during the walk through the monument, to her surprise. Both couples held hands in a show of a affection as they approached Napoleon's final resting place.
The men moved on to Elysee afterward to begin the tough work of the day, diplomatic talks, as their wives continued on their sightseeing adventure.
A visit to Notre Dame Cathedral and a Seine River boat tour were next on the first ladies' agenda.
Having met three times before, in Brussels, Sicily and Hamburg during previous summits, the two women were like old friends. Macron put her arm around Trump's waist at one point and as they walked around.
At the end of their 30-minute tour of the famed French cathedral, Melania Trump lit a candle and held a moment of silence. She was gifted by the church's rector, before she left, with a bell.

 

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Martial setting: The two leaders listened to the national anthems of their nations in the courtyard of Les Invalides

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Les amis: Macron is keen to build a rapport with Trump despite their differences on climate change

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Talks: Much of the day for both men is taken up with bilateral discussions and a dinner at the Eiffel Tower

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Magnifique: The two president spoke in the courtyard of Les Invalides, which is a monument to the fallen of French wars since the revolution.

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Hero: Macron took the Trumps to the tomb of the emperor Napoleon, the leader who created modern France in the wake of the French Revolution, but who was defeated at Waterloo in 1815 and died in exile

 

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Explanation: David Guillet, the director of the French army museum, told the Trumps the story of Napoleon's magnificent tomb, the centerpiece of Les Invalides

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Brothers in arms: Trump and Macron walked into the Elysee Palace, the official French presidential residence, arm in arm

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Ready for talks: After the welcome ceremony at Les Invalides,

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First lady Melania Trump (in red) is escorted through the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and is accompanied by French first lady Brigitte Macron (in white)

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Melania Trump and Brigitte Macron visited the Parisian landmark, the Notre Dame Cathedral, on Thursday

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First lady Melania Trump and the wife of French president Emmanual Macron, Brigitte, are photographed walking through the Notre Dame Thursday, during President Trump's whirlwind trip to Paris

The Trumps landed in Paris for a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the United States' entry into World War I mid-morning. The first couple touched down at Orly airport just after 8:30 am local time.
Melania sported a chic red blazer and skirt combination paired with red pumps, while the president remained in the suit and tie he had on when they departed Washington.
They are packing a punch with the brief trip that brought them back to Europe five days after the G20 summit.
First on the president's list was a stop at the US ambassador's residence. Melania Trump split off from her husband to tour Hôpital Necker – Enfants Malades, a children's hospital in Paris.
The Trumps were formally welcomed to Paris by Macron and his wife at at Les Invalides, a military monument, later in the afternoon.
They are topping off their day with a meal at the renowned Jules Verne restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower late in the evening.

 

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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived in Paris to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the United States' entry into World War I

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The first couple arrived at Orly airport just after 8:30 am local time. They deplaned at approximately 8:53 am local time

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Melania sported a chic red blazer and skirt combination paired with red pumps, while the president remained in the same suit with the same tie that he had on when he left Washington

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They're packing a punch with the brief trip that brought them back to Europe five days after the G20 summit

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Melania Trump split off from her husband to tour a children's hospital in Paris

 

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The president sent out a flurry of tweets highlighting jobs and industrial gains, a stock market high and a favorable recommendation from a House committee for his border wall before he took off for France with his wife and three of his top advisors in Air Force One on Wednesday evening.
Trump separately told reporters as he exited the White House to board the helicopter that would deliver him to the plane, 'We're doing great against ISIS.'
The president departed Washington under a cloud of suspicion, once again, over charges that his campaign colluded with the Russians to win last year's election following a series of bombshell reports on his son's meeting with a Russian lawyer who's been accused of peddling misinformation on Hillary Clinton.
Seeking to put the business with Don Jr and the Russian national behind him before his third foreign trip, Trump gave two interviews to Reuters and the Christian Broadcasting Network before his overnight flight.
Trump told Reuters had no idea that his eldest son met with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya until a few days ago.

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The Trumps flew Air Force One to Paris overnight from Washington. They go back to the states tomorrow

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WHEN IN EUROPE: Melania Trump gives her husband a European kiss goodbye as she leaves the airport in her own motorcade

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Melania was headed to Hôpital Necker – Enfants Malades, a children's hospital

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Their presidential visit will be filled with pomp that the White House hopes will offer respite from rolling scandal backing home

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First on the president's list is a stop at the US ambassador's residence. He's seen in the presidential limo leaving Orly airport

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The US president brings his own car with him when he travels for security reasons. It's known as 'The Beast'

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Air Force One sits on the tarmac after U.S President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania arrived at Orly airport, south of Paris

CBN aired only a select portion of its interview on Wednesday, holding the rest for an episode of the 700 Club on Thursday.
In one of the clips that it put out, Trump seeks to distance himself from Vladimir Putin, saying at one point that the Russian government official would have been better off with Clinton as president.
She would have run the US military into the ground, Trump said, and ruined America's energy market.
'There are many things that I do that are the exact opposite of what he would want,' Trump proclaimed.
The US president must turn his attention now to his dealings with Macron and the talks they'll have today and tomorrow in Paris, regardless of the press coverage.

 

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Melania Trump talks with Martin Hirsch, director of Paris' public assistance hospitals AP-HP as she visits the Necker Hospital for children

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Melania Trump visited with a group of sick children, speaking to them in French, one of the five languages the White House says she speaks

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'Did you grow up in Paris? It's beautiful,' she asked one little girl in English

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Before the first lady left, the hospital's director presented her with a French-language copy of 'Le Petit Prince'

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To another, she said, 'You look very good. Very strong...One day you will be walking and running'

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After the visit, Melania Trump used her @FLOTUS account to tweet this image and thank those at the hospital for allowing her to visit

He went straight the US ambassador's residence this morning for meetings as his wife went to the children's hospital.
Melania Trump visited with a group of sick children, speaking to them in French, one of the five languages the White House says she speaks.
'Did you grow up in Paris? It's beautiful,' she asked one little girl in English.
To another, she said, 'You look very good. Very strong...One day you will be walking and running.'
Before the first lady left, the hospital's director presented her with a French-language copy of 'Le Petit Prince.'
'I will keep it to practice my French,' she told him.
Trump and his wife are due to lunch with US military leaders before they join up with the president and first lady of France.

 

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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are seen making their way to Paris on Wednesday evening in Washington, DC

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They're seen at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland ahead of their flight to Paris

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They arrived Thursday morning, local time, and had a full day of activities planned

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Trump told reporters as he exited the White House to board the helicopter that would deliver him to the plane, 'We're doing great against ISIS.'

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The president departed Washington under a cloud of suspicion, once again, over charges that his campaign colluded with the Russians to win last year's election

In the afternoon they'll tour Les Invalides with the Macrons, then the men will break off for formal talks at Élysée Palace.
President Trump and President Macron will hold a joint news conference in the early evening before they regroup with their wives for dinner.
Both presidents are scheduled to attend the Bastille Day military parade on Friday morning before the Trumps leave Paris for their Bedminster resort in New Jersey.
Macron and his wife are leaving the city the same day for Nice.

 

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Seeking to put the business with Don Jr and the lawyer behind him before his third foreign trip Trump gave two interviews to Reuters and the Christian Broadcasting Network before his overnight flight

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White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is seen hauling his bags from the White House to Marine One on Wednesday evening for the foreign trip

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White House staffers cheer the president and first lady as the depart the White House on Wednesday for their third trip abroad

Trump's ideological opposite, Macron has swiftly positioned himself to become the next bastion of the liberal international order that the conservative businessman has vehemently opposed.
The political novices have clashed in their short tenures on the world stage, especially on the issue of climate change.
A White House official suggested Tuesday that Trump would steer clear of that topic as much possible and focus his attention on Syria, where a ceasefire between the rebel forces that the US and France support and Bashar al-Assad's government recently went into effect.
The senior aide to the Republican president who's total time in elected office clocks in five and a half months attempted to downplay divisions between Trump and fellow newcomer to politics Macron.
Trump and Macron have 'very good' chemistry and a 'very positive' relationship, the senior administration official said during a preview of the trip, virtually ignoring the yanking and pulling that has defined the leaders' handshakes on two previous occasions and a shoving incident last week at the G20.

 

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'There are some issues where we see the world a little bit differently, but many issues where we see the world more or less the same,' the official said. 'The French are and have been, and will be, very close security partners of ours who cooperate in many different domains and on many different issues. And I think the relationship, still in its early stages, is a very, very good one.'
Experts on US-European affairs were less glamorous in their assessments of Trump and Macron's interactions thus far.
'This is going to be a clash of visions and ideology,' said Nile Gardiner, a fellow at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, of the upcoming talks. 'Macron views himself as an ideological adversary for Trump.'
After a face-to-face meeting in Belgium last month Trump and Macron went to battle over the international climate accord that's named after France's most famous city.
Trump heartily declared that he 'was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris' during an amped up White House ceremony where he pronounced his opposition to the environmental protection pact that nearly every nation on earth has affirmed.

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Trump must turn his attention now to French President Emmanuel Macron. The political novices have clashed in their short tenures on the world stage, especially on the issue of climate change

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They are seen locked in a death grip at a May summit in Brussels, Belgium above

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And then there was the Macron shoving incident last week at the G20. The newly elected French president pushed to the front to stand next to his American peer

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Troops take part in the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on July 14, 2016. France holds an annual Bastille Day military parade with troops from other countries that Trump will attend Friday

Macron hit back at Trump in sharply-worded remarks immediately afterward.
'If we do nothing, our children will know a world of migrations, of wars, of shortage. A dangerous world. It is not a future we want for ourselves. It is not a future we want for our children. It is not a future we want for our world,' he said. 'Wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility. Make our planet great again.'
Just last week Macron and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, led the world's most affluent nations in producing a climate action plan that rejected Trump's position. The pronouncement had purveyors of document referring to the Group of Twenty as the G19 in a snub that was directed toward the US.
A communique of the G20 contained declared the Paris agreement 'irreversible' in spite of the United States' protests.
The newly elected French president candidly acknowledged his diverging views with Trump, telling journalists that the 'world has never been so divided' at the end of the talks.
'Macron in many ways is the antithesis of Donald Trump in terms of outlook,' Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at Heritage said. 'Macron sees himself as the new savior of the dying liberal order.'
The dispute over climate policy 'certainly colors the entire meeting' between Macron and Trump on Thursday, the Sierra Club's Global Climate Policy Director John Coequyt told DailyMail.com ahead of the Paris visit.

 

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Trump and Macron will reportedly have dinner together with their wives at Le Jules Verne inside the Eiffel Tower

 

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Trump will stay for the military parade the next day - but leave before a Bastille Day fireworks show

TRUMP'S PARIS TRIP

The president and first lady left Washington on Wednesday evening. They'll arrive in Paris on Thursday morning.
Trump's first stop is a meet-and-greet at the US embassy with diplomatic staff and Bastille Day participants.
He will then hold a have a working lunch with senior members of his delegation and U.S. military leaders in France, the White House said,
The Trumps will not meet President and Mrs. Macron until later at Les Invalides.
There they will visit the tomb of Marshal Foch, Supreme Allied Commander in World War I. They will tour the French National War Museum and see Napoleon's tomb, too.
After that, the men will have a bilateral meeting.
They'll conclude the afternoon with a news conference.
The presidents and their wives will then go out to dinner at Le Jules Verne.
Friday they will attend the Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Élysées.
The Trumps will leave after that, missing the sound and light show that takes place at the Eiffel Tower.

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'Trump questioned whether he should go because of the disagreements that they're having on climate, on energy,' Coequyt said, pointing to previous reports characterizing the visit. 'There's just no way that those tensions and the tensions over the Paris Agreement aren't going to be part of this conversation whether they're on the agenda or not on the agenda.'
The liberal environmentalist said, 'It's become really clear that the rest of the world is willing to move forward without the US.'
'It also appears as if that's a good thing politically in Europe, to show that you're willing to stand up to President Trump on these issues. These issues are popular in the US and they're popular in Europe,' he said.
Even so, Peterson Institute for International Economics fellow Gary Hufbauer said he expects Trump and Macron will push the issue of climate change aside, for now, as they come together to plot out a way forward in Syria.
'Clearly, Trump has a frosty relationship, at best with Merkel,' he said, invoking Germany's leader. 'Trump will be highly motivated to find a warmer relationship with Macron so as to somewhat offset the image in Europe that Trump is kind of a bull in the china shop.'
Hufbauer said his guess is 'that Trump will be on his best behavior and try to find points of agreement' with Macron in their bilateral session that's scheduled to last less than two hours.
A US official said Tuesday that reports characterizing Trump as reluctant to accept Macron's invitation to visit were incorrect and the American president is 'very excited' about his hastily-arranged trip to France with his wife, First Lady Melania Trump.
'Anytime that you can go visit a couple like the Macrons in the City of Light, it's pretty tremendous,' the Trump aide said.



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Drawing a comparison between Trump and Macron, the official said the French president, who was elected just two months ago in May, 'is a really is an innovative, charismatic guy who's trying to do some different things in France.
'His political party didn't exist a couple of years ago. So in that respect, he's been a real trailblazer. And I think both of them think they have some things in common in their experience,' the White House adviser said. 'Obviously, many differences, but some things in common.'
Violent extremism is a topic the US believes Trump and Macron have solidary beliefs on, for starters.
'Broadly speaking, I would say they see the threat in much the same way,' the senior US official who briefed reporters ahead of the trip said Tuesday of Trump's and Macron's views on 'radical Islamic terrorism.'
Paris has been attacked two times since 2015, not including a bomb that went off last year on a plane leaving one of its airports. A terrorist truck driver mowed down onlookers after a fireworks show last Bastille Day in Nice.
Trump has responded to terror events in Europe with actions to safeguard the border that critics of his policies say are too harsh. Macron has aligned himself with globalists like Merkel who favor open borders.
The White House official said Tuesday that the US expects 'most of the discussion' between Trump and Macron 'to focus on what's going on in Syria right now, and then the French and American cooperation both inside the alliance and bilaterally,' in addition to counterterror measures.
Gardiner, the fellow at Heritage, which is the leading conservative think tank in the US, said Trump should use the meeting to shove back on Macron's support for looser borders. He urged the US president to 'join Britain in opposing plans for a European Union army,' as well.

 

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U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands before a working lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium on May 25

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Macron won the first round, gripping Trump's hand so hard the US president had to wriggle free

The conservative scholar framed the tension with Macron in the context of the US-UK partnership, which he said has been revitalized since America voted for Trump and Britain voted to exit the EU, and said, 'There's no special relationship with France, that's for sure.'
France has met the mark in one area that has attracted positive attention from Trump however, and that is its spending on the collective defense of Western nations.
Trump has made fundraising for NATO a top priority when he is abroad, stressing repeatedly that the US cannot be the world's piggybank.
NATO member nations committed in 2014 to spending 2 percent of their GDP at a bare minimum on military operations. Most of them are not meeting that threshold. At 1.8 percent GDP, France is close.
'Their numbers are trending in a positive direction, and they've assured the President that they have every intention of meeting the Wales targets, which are supposed to be met by 2024,' the senior White House official who spoke to reporters said.
The official said, 'France is far and away one of the largest and strongest military members of the alliance and spends an awful lot of defense right now, and carries a heavy load in the counterterrorism fight, in particular in places so that really we don't have to.'
Hufbauer said he suspects that Trump is most interested in lining Macron up behind a plan to stabilize Syria. The ceasefire between rebel forces and Assad that the US and Russia brokered at the G20 may be the beginning of a partition in Syria that separates the area the brutal dictator will continue to control and rebel-held territory.
'I would guess the French would go along with that,' he said. 'Basically everybody wants to see the end of bloodshed in Syria, and that's kind of a logical way you get at least a reduction in bloodshed.'

 

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Trump will visit the US embassy in Paris when he arrives, before his meeting with Macron

 

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Friday is also the two-year anniversary of the accord that the US and France brokered with Iran and four other countries to keep nukes out of reach for Tehran.
Trump has threatened to tear the existing agreement up and force Iran back to the table for negotiations on a new pact.
'They don't like to deal with Iran,' the Peterson Institute fellow said of Trump's government. 'He would probably like to get some agreement with Macron about potential red lines in the event there's evidence that Iran is violating this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.'
Trade could always come up in the meeting, too – another favorite topic of Trump's – although the White House said it does not expect the presidents to have time to dig into it.
'Obviously, the President is always ready, willing and able to talk about issues of importance to the American worker and to the American economy. And there's every possibility that it will be raised,' the official said. 'But we've been asked to focus on preparing, and the President has been focused on preparing specifically for Syria and [counterterrorism] topics.'
The two countries' shared history will be a part of the discussion, as well, as the WWI and WWII allies come together Friday at the annual military parade that runs down the Champs-Elysee.
'The French were strong allies, so, with us in Afghanistan, in the Gulf War. There were with us in the Korean War, as well. So we have a long history, 'the official said, 'not always marching in lockstep, but real friends and real allies.'
'And so there are clear parallels to our partnership and our alliances 100 years ago and today, no question about that. That's a big part of why the President is going to be there this week.'