On Wednesday US President Donald Trump spoke to three New York Times journalists, who then posted a detailed transcript of their varied conversations.
Trump covers a whole range of issues from how the country is doing, to his relationship with other world leaders. Here’s everything you might have missed.
1. On his reception abroad.
“I have had the best reviews on foreign land. So I go to Poland and make a speech.
“Enemies of mine in the media, enemies of mine are saying it was the greatest speech ever made on foreign soil by a president.”
2. On his relationship with Emmanuel Macron.
“He’s a great guy. Smart. Strong. Loves holding my hand…People don’t realise he loves holding my hand…I think he is going to be a terrific president of France. But he does love holding my hand.”
3. When questioned whether he will go to the UK.
“Ah, they’ve asked me.”
4. On why he didn’t shake Angela Merkel’s hand.
“I didn’t shake her hand, because I’d been with her for so long. I’d been with her for a long period of time. So I didn’t shake her — the next day, ‘Trump refused to shake…’ (garbled)”
5. On Napoleon.
“Well, Napoleon finished a little bit bad. But I asked that. So I asked the president, so what about Napoleon? He said: ‘No, no, no. What he did was incredible. He designed Paris.’ (garbled)”
6. Then he segwayed somehow onto Hitler.
“Same thing happened to Hitler. Not for that reason, though. Hitler wanted to consolidate. He was all set to walk in. But he wanted to consolidate, and it went and dropped to 35 degrees below zero, and that was the end of that army.”
7. On Shinzo Abe’s wife Akie Abe.
Trump sits next to Abe's wife at G20 dinner in total silence. Complains she doesn't speak English.She actually can.You can't make this up.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) July 20, 2017
“So, I was seated next to the wife of Prime Minister Abe (Shinzo Abe of Japan), who I think is a terrific guy, and she’s a terrific woman, but doesn’t speak English.”
8. On his granddaughter Arabella Kushner.
“She’s great. She speaks fluent Chinese. She’s amazing.”
9. On how the country is doing.
“So the bottom line is this. The country’s doing well. We are, we are moving forward with a lot of great things. The unemployment is the lowest it’s been in 16 years. The stock market is the highest it’s ever been.
“It’s up almost 20% since I took office. And we’re working hard on health care. Um, the Russian investigation — it’s not an investigation, it’s not on me — you know, they’re looking at a lot of things.”
