French President Emmanuel Macron fact-checked President Donald Trump on Monday regarding the issue of Ukraine war compensation, causing a tense moment between the two.
Otherwise, the dynamic between them appeared to be much more convivial.
A reporter asked Macron, “Will France support the U.S. being compensated?”
The U.S is seeking a mineral rights deal with Ukraine to offset the $350 billion, by Trump’s calculation, the American taxpayer has sent to Kyiv to fight Russia.
A U.S. interagency group puts the figure at $183 billion as of December 31, 2024.
Macron answered the reporter, “I support the idea to have Ukraine first being compensated because they are the one to have lost a lot of their fellow citizens and being destroyed by these attacks.”
“Second, all those who paid for [the war] to be compensated, but not by Ukraine, by Russia, because they were to ones to aggress,” the French president added.
A notable moment in the Oval Office where Trump says “Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine” and “they’re getting their money back” when Macron interrupted to say, “No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60% of the total effort.”
WATCH:
https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1894097234200760507
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins)