Trump mocks Macron for being slapped by wife Brigitte and failing to send warships to Middle East in new attack on Nato allies

Donald Trump mocked French President Emmanuel Macron for being slapped by his wife Brigitte and for not sending warships to the Middle East in a new attack on NATO allies.

The US President was referring to the video that went viral last May that showed the French First Lady shoving Macron in the face as he prepared to get off a plane in Vietnam.

During Easter lunch at the White House on Wednesday, the US President joked, “Then I called France, Macron, whose wife treated him so badly, is still recovering from his illness up to his chin,” drawing laughter from the audience.

‘And I say: “Emmanuel, we’d love to get some help in the Gulf, even though we’re breaking records in taking out bad people and disabling ballistic missiles, we’d love to get some help… could you please send the ships right away?”‘

The US President then imitated Macron’s response in a fake French accent: ‘No, no, no, I can’t do that Donald, we can do it after the war is won.’

He continued: ‘I said: ‘No, no, I don’t need it [them] After the war is won, Emmanuel.”‘

In a televised address to the American people on Wednesday night, Trump ordered Europe to “seize and cherish” the Strait of Hormuz and announced that the United States was “very close” to ending the war with Iran.

While NATO countries are reluctant to ensure the security of the strait, where 20 percent of the world’s oil passes every day, Tehran continues to hit commercial ships with unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles.

The US President referenced the viral video from last May that showed the French First Lady pushing Macron in the face as he prepared to get off a plane in Vietnam.

‘Countries of the world that receive oil from the Strait of Hormuz should pay attention to this transition. They should value this. While defending America’s military action against Iran, Trump said, “They should capture it and value it, they can easily do that.”

‘We will help, but they must take the lead in protecting the oil on which they are so desperately dependent.’

‘Pick up some overdue courage,’ he told his European allies.

Since Tehran forced the Strait of Hormuz to close at the beginning of the war, the world has been plunged into the worst oil crisis in history; prices soaring towards $200 per barrel and the threat of global recession looming on the horizon.

Trump has repeatedly called on European allies to send naval warships to help reopen the waterway, but their collective reluctance has led to a widening rift in transatlantic relations.

The US President described NATO as a ‘paper tiger’ and said removing America from the defense agreement was now ‘beyond reconsideration’. Telegram.

He accused European nations who ‘did absolutely nothing’ to help his war with Iran in recent weeks as ‘cowards’, saying: ‘The US needs nothing from NATO, but ‘never forget’ this crucial moment!’

The sentiment was echoed by US S.secretary of state Marco Rubio says America will ‘re-examine’ its relationship with NATO once the Iran war is over.

‘There is no doubt that, unfortunately, we will have to re-examine this relationship after this conflict is over. “We’re going to have to reconsider the value of NATO to our country in this alliance,” Rubio told Fox News, adding that it would “ultimately” be a decision for President Trump to make.

As well as mocking Macron and France’s response to the war, Trump also singled out Britain, mocking Sir Keir Starmer for saying ‘there is no Winston Churchill’.

Last week the US President criticized Britain’s lack of support for its war against the Islamic Republic, describing Britain’s aircraft carriers as ‘toys compared to what we have’.

Speaking to reporters at the White House last Thursday, Trump said: ‘The British said: ‘We will send our aircraft carriers’ – which are not the best of the aircraft carriers we have, they are like toys compared to what we have – ‘We will send our aircraft carriers when the war is over’. And I said: “That’s great, thank you very much, don’t bother.”‘

This comes amid claims that the US President threatened to halt arms supplies to Ukraine in a bid to force European countries to join a ‘coalition of the willing’ to reopen the strait.

In response to NATO countries’ reluctance to send warships to the flyway, Trump said he would stop supplying NATO’s Purl, a European-funded initiative that secures the supply of US weapons for Kiev’s war. Finance Times.

Following Trump’s warning and the insistence of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, a group of countries, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, issued an urgent statement on March 19: ‘We express our readiness to contribute to the necessary efforts to ensure safe passage through the Bosphorus. [of Hormuz].’

An official briefed on the president’s thinking told the FT: ‘It was Rutte who insisted on the joint statement because Trump had threatened to withdraw from Purl and Ukraine in general.

‘The declaration was then quickly put together and other countries joined later as there was not enough time to invite everyone to sign up immediately.’

In the two days before the hastily written statement was issued, Rutte held several meetings with Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The NATO chief will travel to Washington next week for a ‘long-planned visit’ as tensions continue to escalate.

The President looks surprised, but quickly recovers and turns to wave through the open door.

In May last year, Macron’s office admitted that his wife Brigitte had hit him during a fight, after footage showed him pushing the First Lady’s face as the plane landed.

Shocking video of the incident shot in Hanoi by the Associated Press news agency shows the French President opening the plane door to reveal himself.

His wife Brigitte’s arms then come out to the left of the open door and she puts both hands on her husband’s face and pushes him.

The President looks surprised, but quickly recovers and turns to wave through the open door.

He is obscured by the fuselage of the plane, making it impossible to see his facial expressions or body language.

The couple then walks down the stairs to an official welcome from Vietnamese officials, but Brigitte does not accept her husband’s outstretched arm.

Macron’s office initially denied the authenticity of the images before they were confirmed to be real.

A close friend of the president later described the incident as a harmless ‘fight’ between a couple.

An Elysee official downplayed the moment and denied that it indicated an argument between the couple, who have been married since 2007: ‘It was a moment when the president and his wife relaxed and laughed one last time before the journey began.’

“It was a moment of rapprochement,” the official said.

Another member of his circle downplayed the significance of the incident.

“This was a moment where the President and his wife were relieving stress by joking one last time before the journey began,” the second source told reporters.

‘This is a moment of togetherness. “There was no need for more to feed the conspiracy theorists’ mills,” said the source, blaming pro-Russian accounts for the negative comments about the incident.

The video clip spread quickly on the Internet and was promoted by accounts that were particularly hostile to the French leader.