Source: NY Times. I'm pleased that Mr. Macron politely but firmly called out Don the Con for repeating his porkies. Of course Don the Con will continue to ignore the first rule on digging oneself out of holes.
From the article (full article in link):
"Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump, who last week said that Ukraine “started” the war and that Mr. Zelensky is a “dictator without elections,” declined to use the term for Mr. Putin. “I don’t use those words lightly,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Macron, by contrast, gave voice to the consensus view in Europe and, until now, in the United States that Moscow is to blame for the war. “This is a responsibility of Russia because the aggressor is Russia,” the French president said."
"At one point, Mr. Trump repeated the false claim that the United States had spent $350 billion to aid Ukraine and “we had nothing to show for it,” while Europe has spent only $100 billion. In fact, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Europe has allocated $138 billion compared with $119 billion from the United States.
Mr. Trump also mischaracterized the nature of European aid. “Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine,” he said. “They get their money back.”
Mr. Macron, who earlier in the meeting had been speaking in French through an interpreter, quickly interjected in English and put his hand on Mr. Trump’s arm to correct him.
“No, in fact, to be frank, we paid,” Mr. Macron said. Like the United States, he said, there has been a mix of grants, loans and loan guarantees. “We provided real money, to be clear,” he said.
Mr. Trump, smiling, made a skeptical face and waved his hand as if to say that he did not buy it."