US President Donald Trump declared that he “fell deeply in love” with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi during a meeting at the G7 summit in France. The remarks came as the two leaders sat together for a media briefing.
Donald Trump gushes over Egypt’s President
Seated beside El Sisi, the 80-year-old recounted their first encounter ahead of the 2016 US election. “I met him early in the campaign when Crooked Hillary and I were running against each other, right, and I was told that the president of Egypt is here,” Trump said. “So he was in a hotel, and I met him, and we fell in love. Deeply in love.”
Trump claimed that El Sisi refused to meet his Democratic rival at the time. “He didn’t even want to see Hillary. He said, ‘You’re going to win, I don’t want to meet her. You’re going to win.’ He didn’t want to see her, remember that?” the president continued. “We had great chemistry, and I stayed twice as long as I was supposed to.”
The Egyptian president has cultivated a close relationship with Donald Trump since the early days of his administration. Sisi was among the leaders who participated in the 2017 opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh.
It was captured in a widely circulated photograph of Trump, Melania Trump, and Saudi King Salman touching a glowing orb. Trump had previously called him “my favorite dictator.” Rights groups have long criticized Sisi’s record on human rights, pointing to allegations of state-sponsored torture, the use of enforced disappearances, and the persecution of LGBTQ individuals.
Now, during Wednesday’s bilateral session, El Sisi expressed gratitude for Trump’s stance on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a mega-project on the Nile that Egypt views as a threat to its water supply. The Egyptian leader also welcomed the peace deal between the United States and Iran.
