The President of Poland is the first foreign leader to visit Trump in months.
8 min read
As the US coronavirus cases USA Approaching their highest levels since April, President Donald Trump played statesman with the first visit by a foreign leader to the White House in the months after the pandemic began.
President Trump welcomed Polish President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday and began his joint press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House promoting trade and defense deals with the country, while criticizing other NATO allies as “criminals “doubling his promise to withdraw US troops from Germany, whom he again blamed for failing to pay the promised share of the alliance’s costs.
“We will only be satisfied when all members are paying their fair share,” Trump said.
Trump applauded the United States and Poland for being “true friends and trusted partners for nearly 250 years” and said their meeting “will reaffirm the vital alliance” between them.
Duda’s visit to the White House also raises a question about whether the U.S. USA It will increase its military presence in Poland as Trump reduces troop levels in nearby Germany, an idea that Duda seemed to welcome, saying: “In our opinion, it is deeply justified to guarantee US troops remain in Europe.”
Trump said Poland was an option on where to drop them off, and Duda said his country is “ready” to host.
“We are going to reduce our forces in Germany. Some will go home and some will go elsewhere, but Poland would be one of those other places,” he said.
Trump also addressed some internal issues at the joint press conference.
Referring to how the Senate Republican Party-backed JUSTICE Act aimed at police reform failed in the Senate Wednesday afternoon, Trump said: “We will not sacrifice ourselves.”
“They want to take away much of the force from our police and the police in general, and we cannot live with that, we can live with that,” he added.
He also mocked an executive order that he says he is signing “before the weekend” that says it will facilitate the prosecution of protesters trying to tear down statues, with 10 years in prison.
“I think a lot of the people who are taking down these statues don’t even have a clue what the statue means, who it is, when they take it down,” Trump said. “But when they look inside they are now looking at Jesus Christ. They are looking at George Washington, they are looking at Abraham Lincoln. Thomas Jefferson. It is not going to happen.”
He said the FBI is investigating “hundreds of people across the country for what they have done to monuments, statues and even buildings.”
While Trump did not mention the coronavirus in his opening remarks, especially as the country’s cases reached new heights, Duda led in addressing the global pandemic.
He said that, through a translator, public health officials in his country hope to work with those in the US. USA As scientists worldwide to develop therapies and vaccines.
“We will involve Poland, both in terms of aid and care for the Poles once we have the vaccine, but I think we will have it very soon,” Trump said later.
The press conference comes just hours after, in a shocking reversal, a federal appeals court ordered a lower court to dismiss the case against Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as requested by the Department. of Justice.
During a previous photo shoot from his meeting with Duda in the Oval Office, President Trump said he was “very pleased with General Flynn.”
“He was treated very, very horribly by a group of very bad people,” Trump said. “And I think they will see that things are going to start to turn out. But what happened to General Flynn should never happen again in our country. He was persecuted and many other people were persecuted.”
“He has been exonerated and I want to congratulate him,” added Trump.
ABC News’ Jordyn Phelps and Elizabeth Thomas contributed to this report.
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