Trump Heard Complimenting Macron's Wife's Figure

And more from the president's trip to Paris
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 13, 2017 2:18 PM CDT
Trump Heard Complimenting Macron's Wife's Figure
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcome First Lady Melania Trump while and his wife Brigitte, left, welcomes President Donald Trump at Les Invalides museum in Paris Thursday, July 13, 2017.    (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

President Trump is in Paris for talks, but he's also there as French President Emmanuel Macron's guest of honor and will have a plum seat as American troops open the Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Elysees. This year's celebration will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the US entry into World War I, and the Washington Post suggests the latter fact alone wasn't enough to get Trump to accept in the invitation. It reports he accepted the invitation in late June after learning there would be a spectacle-filled parade.

  • One of the quirkier sidebars emerging involves Jim, Trump's go-to guy on all things Paris. During a February speech, Trump recounted the story of his friend Jim, who "for years, every year during the summer, he would go to Paris." But that changed recently, said Trump, with Jim telling him, "I don't go there anymore. Paris is no longer Paris." The AP reports Trump has never provided the "enigmatic" Jim's last name, and the White House didn't respond to a request for comment.
  • If Jim's attitude on Paris had soured, so had Trump's seemingly, with Politico noting Trump last year called the city "so out of control, so dangerous" due to terror threats. It reports Trump took an entirely different tune Thursday: "You know what? It's going to be just fine, because you have a great president. You have somebody that's going to run this country right. ... I think this is one of great cities, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and you have a great leader now."

  • Macron had kind words of his own during their joint press conference, framing tonight's dinner in the Eiffel Tower as "a dinner between friends, because we are the representatives of two countries which have been allies forever." Politico's take: "The two men spoke highly of one another, even if their body language on stage seemed a bit awkward at times."
  • As for that dinner, the Post notes it's at the Michelin-starred Le Jules Verne, whose six-course dinner costs $262 a head.
  • Trump's first handshake with Macron in May was the subject of much scrutiny. This time around, Trump's "awkward" greeting with Macron's wife, Brigitte, is getting more attention. CNN explains why. And then there's this tweet from AFP France correspondent Adam Plowright who quotes Trump as telling Brigitte, "You know, you're in such great shape ... beautiful."
  • The topic of Donald Trump Jr. was raised during the press conference. Trump's comment in part, per ABC News: "My son is a wonderful young man. He took a meeting with a Russian lawyer. Not a government lawyer, but a Russian lawyer. ... I think from a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting. It's called opposition research, or even research into your opponent."
  • He was far less definitive when asked about pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, per Politico. "Yeah, I mean, something could happen with respect to the Paris accord. We'll see what happens. ... And if it happens, that will be wonderful, and if it doesn't, that will be OK, too."
(More President Trump stories.)

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