President Donald Trump had to lean on First Lady Melania to help him understand a reporter’s question while hosting tech leaders at the White House.
The first couple hosted Silicon Valley giants, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, in the State Dining Room on Thursday evening. Missing from the table was Tesla CEO and ex-Trump advisor Elon Musk, who said he had been invited but “unfortunately could not attend” and had dispatched a representative in his stead.
Trump, flanked by Zuckerberg on one side and Melania on the other, briefly fielded questions from the press in the room, including one from a reporter standing across the table who asked into a microphone, “Do you plan to speak with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in the near future?”
As the reporter spoke, the 79-year-old president waved his hand as if to signal the microphone to be adjusted, then tilted his head in apparent confusion.
“What did—what?” he asked, looking to Melania, 55, for backup.
Luckily, she had grasped the question. He leaned in toward her as she whispered, “If you will speak with President Putin in near future.”
“I will be, yeah, I will be,” Trump finally replied, adding that they were having “very good dialogue” regarding a peace deal for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on the moment.
Trump then repeated his claim that he had “settled seven wars,” before complaining that bringing the Russia-Ukraine conflict to an end had turned out to be “a little bit tougher.”
He said he had thought the war would be “an easier one” because of his relationship with the Russian dictator as well as Ukraine.
He bemoaned the casualties, remarking, “They’re not American . . . but they’re people, they’re souls.”
As he spoke those words, Melania gave him a subtle smile. Trump has credited the first lady, who was born in Yugoslavia, in the region that is now Slovenia, for their conversations about Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Trump has repeatedly threatened sanctions and “severe consequences” if Putin doesn’t agree to a ceasefire, but he has failed to follow through. He let yet another ceasefire deadline he had imposed on the dictator pass on Tuesday.
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