President Trump makes WWII gaffe as he insults German chancellor by saying Nazi defeat was ‘not great'
President Donald Trump made an awkward joke about the liberation of Europe from Nazi tyranny that punctuated his Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The odd moment came when Merz mentioned before a group of reporters that tomorrow, June 6, was the anniversary of D-Day, when U.S. and allied forces stormed the beaches at Normandy.
'May I remind you that we are having June 6 tomorrow. This is D-Day anniversary when the Americans once ended a war in Europe. And I think this is in your hand in specific – in ours,' Merz said.
'That was not a pleasant day for you,' Trump interjected, in a reference to Nazi Germany's forces who had occupied France and were fighting off the historic Allied invasion.
'No, that was not a pleasant ...' Merz responded.
'This was not a great day,' Trump joked again.
That prompted Merz to explain a longer view that disassociated the modern democratic German Government from the Nazi German forces the U.S. and allies were fighting.
'Well, in the long run, Mr. President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship,' he informed the president.
Merz appeared to be raising the issue to underline the importance that multilateral efforts can have toward ending conflict – as Russia continues its war on Ukraine.
Trump also risked poking at his host while blaming President Joe Biden for allowing Russia to invade Ukraine.
Trump referenced his opposition during his first term to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline – which provoked fears at the time of leading to more European reliance on Russian gas by piping it to Germany.
'I'm the one that stopped the pipeline. It's called Nord Stream 2. Until I came along, nobody ever heard. Not one person in this room ever heard of Nord Stream two. You probably did,' Trump said.
'This was a mistake,' Merz admitted.
The moment came in a stunning Oval Office meeting where Trump raged against former first buddy Elon Musk in their escalating split.
World leaders have been forced to be mindful during their Oval Office encounters with Trump after the president torched Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their standoff at the White House.
Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of being ungrateful.
Merz made sure to express plenty of thanks up front. 'We owe the Americans a lot. We will never forget about that. And so with your German provenance I think this is a very good basis for close cooperation between America and Germany,' he said, likely referencing German elements in Trump's ancestry.
He even thanked Trump, who maintains a real estate empire, for allowing him to stay at Blair House, across the street from the White House.
'Thank you for the hospitality and thank you for having your guest house for a night. This is a great place, great place. Many thanks for that. I really enjoyed it. Thank you,' he said.
Trump appreciated the remark. 'It's a wonderful place. It's a landmark also. Blair House. It's a nice place to stay. Thank you very much for saying that,' the president said.
There was one point where Merz decided he needed to correct point, or at least stress a key point, after Trump described the horrors he sees of casualties in the war.
'We get satellite pictures of the Warfield, and you don't even like to look at them, right? It's bodies, arms, heads, legs, all over the place, and you've never seen anything like it. It's so ridiculous.'
Merz spoke emphatically. 'This is only by Russian weapons against Ukraine. This had never happened with Ukraine weapons against Russia. Never,' he said. 'Ukraine is only targeting military targets, not civilians, not private, not Institute, not energy infrastructure. So this is the difference, and that's the reason why we are trying to do more on Russia. How to stop this war?'
There have been repeated demonstrations of Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian areas during the war. He underlined the point after a stunning Ukrainian attack on Russian aircraft on far-flung military bases.
But Trump didn't give him the last word.
'Well, in this case, I'm talking about the battlefield. You know, the soldiers-on-soldiers. But you could also say that too, with the city, the cities are being hit also. So it's a terrible, terrible thing,' Trump said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
32 minutes ago
- Telegraph
White House tries to water down Russia sanctions
Donald Trump is pressuring a US senator to weaken a Bill that would impose sweeping sanctions on Russia. White House officials hoping to mend relations with Moscow have been quietly contacting senator Lindsey Graham's office urging him to water down his Bill, which aims to cripple Vladimir Putin with huge sanctions. The Bill, backed by nearly the entire Senate, would impose 500 per cent tariffs on countries that continue to buy Russian oil and gas, which bankrolls Putin's war effort. Officials have been demanding the Bill include waivers that would allow Mr Trump to choose who or what was sanctioned, congressional aides told the Wall Street Journal. Other attempts to weaken the legislation include softening the language, replacing 'shall' with 'may' to avoid making the reprimands mandatory. Removing the mandatory nature of the sanctions would render the Bill effectively toothless and do little to hamper Putin's war machine, aides fear. 'We're moving ahead and the White House is included in our conversations,' Richard Blumenthal, senator and lead Democratic co-sponsor of the Bill, told the paper. Russia's war effort is funded by fossil-fuel exports. Moscow has adapted to existing sanctions with relative ease, turning to North Korea and China for support. Fearing the impact on pump prices, Joe Biden, former president, was unwilling to crack down on Russian energy exports. Mr Trump, has threatened to impose sanctions on Ukraine, as well as Russia, if the two sides fail to reach a peace agreement. 'Any sanction package must provide complete flexibility for the president to continue to pursue his desired foreign policy,' a White House official said. They added that the constitution 'vests the president with the authority to conduct diplomacy with foreign nations'. Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Friedrich Merz, German chancellor, on Thursday, the US president said that the Bill should not move forward without his express approval. 'They'll be guided by me. That's how it's supposed to be,' he told reporters. 'They're waiting for me to decide on what to do.' Last week, Mr Graham and Mr Blumenthal visited Ukraine where they applauded the country's drone attack that destroyed 40 aircraft deep inside Russian territory. However, they were ridiculed and accused of 'stirring up' the conflict by key allies of Mr Trump, including Steve Bannon. 'By trying to engage Putin – by being friendly and enticing – it's become painfully clear [Putin's] not interested in ending this war,' Mr Graham said earlier this week. '[Putin] needs to see and hear that message as well from us, from the American people,' said Mr Blumenthal. Both said that failing to act now could pull the US deeper into the conflict later. If Putin isn't stopped in Ukraine, Mr Blumenthal said, Nato treaty obligations could compel US troops into battle. Earlier this week, Russian negotiators tabled a long memorandum, resembling a complete capitulation for Ukraine, in a second round of direct talks with Kyiv in Istanbul. They demanded Ukraine must withdraw its troops from four eastern regions that Russia only partially occupies and that international recognition of Russian sovereignty over them and Crimea must be granted.
Reuters
35 minutes ago
- Reuters
US Supreme Court keeps DOGE records blocked in watchdog group's challenge
June 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court extended on Friday its block on judicial orders requiring the Department of Government Efficiency to turn over records to a government watchdog group that sought details on the entity established by President Donald Trump and previously spearheaded by his billionaire former adviser Elon Musk. The court put on hold Washington-based U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper's orders for DOGE to respond to requests by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for information about its operations. The judge concluded that DOGE likely is a government agency covered by the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The brief, unsigned order said that portions of one of the judge's decisions "are not appropriately tailored" and that "separation of powers concerns counsel judicial deference and restraint in the context of discovery regarding internal Executive Branch communications." The court sent the case back to a lower appeals court to narrow the judge's directives. The court's three liberal justices - Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson - dissented from Friday's decision. In a separate case, the Supreme Court on Friday permitted DOGE broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out. DOGE has played a central role in Trump's efforts to downsize and reshape the U.S. government including by slashing the federal workforce and dismantling certain agencies. The watchdog group, called CREW, said its intention was to shed light on what it called DOGE's secretive structure and operations. Musk formally ended his government work on May 30 and his once-close relationship with Trump has since unraveled publicly, a split that followed Musk's recent attacks on the president's sweeping tax and spending bill and played out dramatically on social media on Thursday. CREW sued to obtain an array of records from DOGE through the FOIA statute, a law that allows the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies. It sought information on DOGE's activities over its role in the mass firings and cuts to federal programs pursued since the Republican president returned to office in January. The Trump administration contends that DOGE is an advisory entity and not subject to FOIA. In response, CREW sought information to determine whether DOGE is subject to FOIA because it wields the kind of authority of an agency independent of the president. Cooper ruled in April that DOGE must turn over some records sought by CREW and that the group was entitled to question DOGE official Amy Gleason at a deposition. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined on May 14 to put Cooper's order on hold. The administration urged the Supreme Court to act, saying that the judge's orders intruded on the powers of the executive branch and compromised the ability of a wide array of advisers to provide candid and confidential advice to the president. CREW told the justices that siding with the administration in the dispute would give the president "free reign" to create new entities that would "functionally wield substantial independent authority but are exempt from critical transparency laws." In one of his decisions, Cooper said DOGE's operations have been marked by "unusual secrecy." In another, the judge said that the language of Trump's executive orders concerning DOGE suggests that it is "exercising substantial independent authority."
The Guardian
40 minutes ago
- The Guardian
US supreme court rules Doge can access personal records during legal challenge
The US supreme court on Friday permitted the so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge), a key player in Donald Trump's drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to the personal information of millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out. At the request of the justice department, the justices put on hold Maryland-based US district judge Ellen Hollander's order that had largely blocked Doge's access to 'personally identifiable information' in data such as medical and financial records while litigation proceeds in a lower court. Hollander found that allowing Doge unfettered access likely would violate a federal privacy law. The court's brief, unsigned order did not provide a rationale for siding with Doge. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Its three liberal justices dissented. Doge swept through federal agencies as part of the Republican president's effort, spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, to eliminate federal jobs, downsize and reshape the US government and root out what they see as wasteful spending. Musk formally ended his government work on 30 May. Two labor unions and an advocacy group sued to stop Doge from accessing sensitive data at the SSA, including social security numbers, bank account data, tax information, earnings history and immigration records. The agency is a major provider of government benefits, sending checks each month to more than 70 million recipients, including retirees and disabled Americans. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that the SSA had been 'ransacked' and that Doge members had been installed without proper vetting or training and had demanded access to some of the agency's most sensitive data systems. Hollander in a 17 April ruling found that Doge had failed to explain why its stated mission required 'unprecedented, unfettered access to virtually SSA's entire data systems'. 'For some 90 years, SSA has been guided by the foundational principle of an expectation of privacy with respect to its records,' Hollander wrote. 'This case exposes a wide fissure in the foundation.' Hollander issued a preliminary injunction that prohibited Doge staffers and anyone working with them from accessing data containing personal information, with narrow exceptions. The judge's ruling did allow Doge affiliates to access data that had been stripped of private information as long as those seeking access had gone through the proper training and passed background checks. Hollander also ordered Doge affiliates to 'disgorge and delete' any personal information already in their possession. Based in Richmond, Virginia, the fourth US circuit court of appeals in a 9-6 vote declined on 30 April to pause Hollander's block on Doge's unlimited access to SSA records. Justice department lawyers in their supreme court filing characterized Hollander's order as judicial overreach. 'The district court is forcing the executive branch to stop employees charged with modernizing government information systems from accessing the data in those systems because, in the court's judgment, those employees do not 'need' such access,' they wrote. The six dissenting judges wrote that the case should have been treated the same as one in which a fourth circuit panel ruled 2-1 to allow Doge to access data at the US treasury and education departments and the office of personnel management. In a concurring opinion, seven judges who ruled against Doge wrote that the case involving social security data was 'substantially stronger' with 'vastly greater stakes', citing 'detailed and profoundly sensitive Social Security records', such as family court and school records of children, mental health treatment records and credit card information.
