Overview
- The White House YouTube channel briefly carried the private-lunch footage Thursday before it was taken down, according to multiple outlets.
- In the clip, Trump says Brigitte Macron treats the French leader extremely badly and jokes about a punch to his right jaw while tying his gripe to France and the U.K. declining a push to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
- Arriving in Seoul, Macron called the remarks neither elegant nor up to the mark and said they did not merit a reply, as he also labeled a Hormuz military move unrealistic.
- He warned that shifting U.S. statements drain NATO’s credibility and urged stability and seriousness from allies.
- The jab echoed a May 26, 2025 video of Brigitte appearing to strike Macron that the Élysée dismissed as a misread private moment, underscoring years of strain over the Paris climate exit and Macron’s 2019 brain-death warning about NATO.