Trump Lies To French President Emmanuel Macron About Backing Him Against Marine Le Pen In Election

While speaking with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, President Donald Trump told him ‘you were my guy,’ and maintained that he never supported far-right candidate Marine Le Pen during the 2017 French Presidential election, although it was quite evident that he favored the latter, reports said.

He also congratulated Macron for his "incredible campaign" and "tremendous victory" as the two world leaders met for the first time over lunch at the U.S. embassy in Brussels on Thursday, Politico reported.

Read: Trump’s Europe Visit To Focus On NATO’s Role In Fighting ISIS, Paris Climate Deal

“It is my great honor to be with the newly elected president of France, who ran an incredible campaign and had a tremendous victory. All over the world, they’re talking about it. And we have a lot to discuss, including terrorism and other things. Congratulations. Great job,” Trump said, according to the report.

Macron briefly thanked Trump and told reporters the NATO summit, scheduled to take place later on the day, would “allow us to have a first meeting” and that he was “very happy to be able to change a lot of things together.”

Later, Macron took to Twitter to share his experience about meeting Trump. He wrote that his meeting with Trump was "constructive" and "direct."

The White House was quick enough to release a statement soon after the meeting stating that the discussion focused on the Syrian crisis, security and counter-terrorism issues. “The two leaders committed to maintaining and building on the already strong alliance between the United States and France as they cooperate on these and other vital issues,” the statement read, reported Politico.

However, days before Macron’s victory this month, Trump was seen praising Le Pen as the “strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France,” the Guardian reported.

“Whoever is the toughest on radical Islamic terrorism, and whoever is the toughest at the borders, will do well in the election,” Trump told the Associated Press in an interview April.

Trump has often been compared to Le Pen as both have taken a strict stand on immigration and even condemned NATO alliance, a report stated.

The 70-year-old Republican president had never publicly spoken about Macron before the elections, it was reported. On the contrary, former President Barack Obama had endorsed Macron.

Macron’s meeting with Trump was his first biggest diplomatic test since his victory May 8, 2017. Sources close to the French president said that he will urge the U.S. president not to take any swift decisions on the global climate change deal, Reuters said in a report.

“I am very happy to be able to change many things together,” Macron told Trump during the meeting, hoping to persuade the U.S. President to maintain Washington’s commitment to the Paris climate change agreement.

Trump, who had vowed during his 2016 presidential campaign that he would withdraw from the Paris climate deal, is in the process of deciding whether to stick to the climate accord or not, reported the Washington Post.