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‘Right to jaw’: Trump rakes up Emmanuel Macron's 2025 viral ‘slapped by wife' video; says he didn't help US in Iran war
Donald Trump’s comment referenced a May 2025 video that appeared to show Brigitte Macron pushing the French president’s face.
US President Donald Trump took a swipe at his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, making a remark about his wife, Brigitte Macron, while criticising NATO allies over what he described as their reluctance to support the United States in the ongoing war against Iran.
“I call up France, Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly. Still recovering from the right to the jaw," Trump said during a private lunch, according to remarks captured in a video that was briefly posted on the White House’s YouTube channel before access to it was blocked.
Trump’s comment referenced a May 2025 video that appeared to show Brigitte Macron pushing the French president’s face during a visit to Vietnam, footage Macron later dismissed as part of a disinformation campaign.
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Trump on Macron's refusal to help
Trump claimed he personally requested French military assistance during the conflict in the Gulf but said Paris declined to immediately participate.
“We didn’t need them, but I asked anyway," Trump said, describing his outreach to France despite asserting that US forces were already achieving battlefield success.
Follow here for live updates on US-Iran war
“And I said, ‘Emmanuel, we’d love to have some help in the Gulf even though we’re setting records on knocking out bad people and knocking out ballistic missiles. We’d love to have some help. If you could, could you please send ships immediately,’" Trump said.
He went on to mimic Macron’s alleged reply in a French accent: “‘No no no, we cannot do that, Donald. We can do that after the war is won.’"
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Trump said he rejected that position, responding: “‘No, no, I don’t need after the war is won, Emmanuel.’"
He used the anecdote to question NATO’s reliability in major conflicts.
“So I learned about NATO. NATO won’t be there if we ever have the big one, you know what I mean by the big one," Trump said, later branding the alliance a “paper tiger."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also suggested Washington may reassess its relationship with NATO after the Iran war concludes, reinforcing the administration’s criticism of allied burden-sharing.
