Shortly after Donald J. Trump’s 2017 inauguration, Angela Merkel, who was then Germany’s chancellor, visited Washington.
After hearing the photographers demand “handshake, handshake,” an urging that Mr. Trump ignored, Ms. Merkel tried herself, she relates in a new memoir.
“They want to have a handshake,” she said in a hushed tone audible to the press corps just feet away.
“As soon as I said that, I shook my head mentally at myself,” Ms. Merkel wrote, according to excerpts from the memoir released this week in Die Zeit, the German weekly.
“How could I forget that Trump knew exactly what effect he wanted to achieve?” she added.
Persons:
Donald J, Trump’s, Angela Merkel, Trump, Merkel, ” Ms, ”
Organizations:
European Union
Locations:
Washington, Germany, Crimea