Donald Trump was scheduled to hold a closing press conference at the end of his time at the NATO summit on Tuesday, but the president made a last-minute announcement that he was canceling the event because he had already done several others over the two days that he was there. But some people questioned the timing of the cancelation as it came shortly after a video leaked that apparently showed Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau, and Boris Johnson gossiping and laughing about Trump.
The president announced early Wednesday that he believed they had made great progress with NATO over the past few years and asserted that other countries had agreed to pay more — a topic that the president has been focused on since he took office. But rather than using his final press conference to tout his accomplishments, as Mediaite reports, the president decided to cut things off early and leave the summit.
“When today’s meetings are over, I will be heading back to Washington. We won’t be doing a press conference at the close of NATO because we did so many over the past two days. Safe travels to all!” he wrote.
The news came shortly after a video leaked showing several world leaders gathered together apparently laughing at Trump’s previous press conferences, according to a separate report from Mediaite .
The British prime minister turned to the French leader and laughingly asked if that’s why he is late.
“He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top,” Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, said.
Macron then added his own opinion on the situation, though his comments are inaudible. But, as a report from The Inquisitr reveals, Macaron’s feelings about Trump were made clear when he shut down a joke the U.S. president made about Islamic State fighters.
Finally, Trudeau turned to his colleagues and quipped that “you just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.”
. @JustinTrudeau , @EmmanuelMacron , @BorisJohnson and other VIPs shared a few words at a Buckingham Palace reception Tuesday. No one mentions @realDonaldTrump by name, but they seem to be discussing his lengthy impromptu press conferences from earlier in the day. (Video: Host Pool) pic.twitter.com/dVgj48rpOP
— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) December 3, 2019
It’s not clear to what instance Trudeau is referencing, but Trump did raise eyebrows earlier in the day when he claimed that the U.S. didn’t support Iranian protestors. The U.S. president was forced to retract his comments later on Twitter.
One reporter from The Washington Post pointed out on Twitter that Trump appeared to be leaving after finding out about the conversation between the other world leaders.
“This just in: Trump just at cancelled today’s news conference and is leaving London early. It comes after he gave 2 hours of new conferences, and also after he learned he was mocked by world leaders,” the reporter wrote.
The Washington Post ‘s White House Bureau Chief, Philip Rucker, said something similar, while a journalist from The Sydney Morning Herald called Trump’s early departure “a hissy fit.”
Donald Trump has called Justin Trudeau ‘two-faced’, cancelled his press conference and left the Nato summit early. This is after footage emerged of world leaders gossiping about him. #NATO https://t.co/PrTBPS3Ym1
— LBC (@LBC) December 4, 2019
Bloomberg News reporter Josh Wingrove said that it appeared the president was leaving after Trudeau needled him for his two-hour press conference.