‘Worst call by far’: Conversation between Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump revealed
LESS than two hours after the White House agreed to take Australia’s refugees, Trump has tweeted his disgust.
DONALD Trump has tweeted his disapproval of a “dumb deal” to take refugees from Australia just hours after details emerged of a hostile conversation he had with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the weekend.
The US President was apparently angry about having to honour an agreement to take refugees from Manus Island and Nauru, and blasted Mr Turnbull over the deal during a call on Saturday.
Details of the angry conversation came to light after days of conflicting reports about whether the US would honour the deal negotiated by the Obama administration.
Following an awkward press conference where Mr Turnbull refused to comment about the discussion, the US Embassy in Australia released a statement that the deal would go ahead.
But about 3pm (AEDT) Mr Trump took to Twitter to reveal his personal thoughts, posting: “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!”.
Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
In comments this afternoon on Sydney radio station 2GB, Mr Turnbull said he was surprised and disappointed there was an apparent leak of the details of the call in Washington, and that these types of calls usually remained completely confidential.
“The report that the President hung up is not correct, the call ended courteously,” Mr Turnbull said.
But when asked whether Mr Trump actually said “this was the worst call by far” during the conversation, Mr Turnbull said he did not want to go into any further details.
The PM also remained confident about the deal going ahead despite Mr Trump’s tweet, saying there was a commitment from the President, confirmed several times by the government.
Talking later to 3AW in Melbourne, Mr Turnbull said the alliance between Australia and the US was “absolutely rock solid” and “so strong”.
“It is based on years of history ... built on commitments of service, on partnership, on millions of Australians and Americans going back generations.”
He said he “enjoyed” his deadlings with President Trump, labelling them “frank conversations”.
His comments follow reports the President blew up at Mr Turnbull during their conversation on Saturday.
According to The Washington Post, what should have been a cordial hour-long call was ended after 25 minutes when Mr Trump abruptly hung up on the PM.
“This is the worst deal ever,” Mr Trump reportedly said about the refugee deal, complaining that he was “going to get killed” politically. He also accused Australia of seeking to export the “next Boston bombers”.
In a conversation that was characterised as “hostile and charged” and that contrasted with productive talks held with other countries, Mr Trump apparently told the PM he had spoken with four other world leaders that day, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, and “this was the worst call by far”.
Mr Trump also indulged in discussion about his election win and the size of his inauguration crowd, before ending the call when Mr Turnbull suggested they discuss the conflict in Syria and other foreign issues.
The US President appears to have taken a similar tone with other world leaders, reportedly threatening to send US troops to Mexico to stop “bad hombres down there”.
CNN reporter Jim Acosta tweeted that a source familiar with the Trump foreign leader calls said the conversations were “turning faces ‘white’ inside the White House”.
“During call with Australian PM on refugees, Trump pulled phone away from ear and says he wants off call, which ends abruptly per source”.
During call with Australian PM on refugees, Trump pulled phone away from ear and says he wants off call, which ends abruptly per source.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 2, 2017
But SkyNews is reporting that Mr Turnbull “wasn’t just sitting there being berated by Donald Trump” but pushed back against the “yelling” tone of the US President.
SkyNews reporter Laura Jayes said senior Australian government sources (who were not present during the call but part of discussions after) described Mr Trump’s tone during a call as “yelling”, but said the view from Mr Turnbull was that the President was a “bully”.
“What I derived from that was Malcolm Turnbull used this phone call to push back,” Ms Jayes said.
“He wasn’t just sitting there being berated by Donald Trump, he talked about how important it was for (Trump) to honour the deal.”
She said Mr Turnbull had talked about the importance of the strategic alliance and noted that Mr Trump did not have to honour the agreement.
She said Cabinet ministers also seemed to be backing Mr Turnbull’s handling of the call.
“He didn’t back down from Donald Trump who’s seen to be, and by all accounts has been quite a bully in this phone call and they think he has done the right thing.”
TURNBULL REFUSES TO COMMENT
When asked about the call during a press conference this morning, Mr Turnbull said he was not going to comment on the conversation.
“I’m not going to comment on a conversation between myself and the President of the United States, other than what we have said publicly,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“You can surely understand the reasons for that ... it’s better that these things, these conversations are conducted candidly, frankly, privately.”
He said Australia’s relationship with the US was “very strong”.
“The fact we received the assurance that we did, the fact that it was confirmed, the very extensive engagement we have with the administration underlines the closeness of the alliance,” he said.
“Australians know me very well — I stand up for Australia in every forum — public or private.”
It is an awkward development for the Prime Minister, with The Australian also reporting yesterday that the Trump administration was “not happy” about honouring the deal.
It was thought that taking the refugees would send a conflicting message in light of Mr Trump’s executive order that placed a temporary ban on refugees being admitted to the US, along with other strict US border measures targeting seven countries including Iran, Iraq and Syria.
WILL TRUMP HONOUR THE DEAL?
After the call on Saturday, Mr Turnbull told media that Mr Trump had agreed to honour an agreement to take refugees from Nauru and Manus Island.
But since then, there has been confusion over whether Mr Trump actually intends to do this.
About 1.30pm (AEDT) the US Embassy in Australia released a statement that the deal would go ahead.
“President Trump’s decision to honour the refugee agreement has not changed and Spokesman Spicer’s comments stand,” a spokeswoman said.
“This was just reconfirmed to the State Department from the White House and on to this Embassy at 13:15 Canberra time.”
But it came after a morning of mixed messages from various official sources.
Initially, the White House confirmed in a written statement to the ABC that the US President was “still considering” whether to take refugees from Australia.
It came after a White House source told the ABC yesterday that Mr Trump hadn’t decided whether to honour the agreement, just hours after White House spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed the deal in a press conference.
Mr Turnbull continued to express confidence in the agreement on Wednesday and pointed to the statement made by Mr Trump’s spokesman and his own conversation with the President.
“As you’ve heard from the President’s own spokesman this morning, the Trump administration has committed to progress with the arrangements to honour the deal … and that was the assurance the President gave me when we spoke on the weekend,” Mr Turnbull told the National Press Club.
But the ABC is reporting it has now obtained a written statement from the White House that says: “The President is still considering whether or not he will move forward with this deal at this time.”
The twists don’t stop there. Shortly afterwards, the ABC reportedly received a statement from the State Department that the Trump administration would honour the deal to accept some refugees.
When asked about the reports, Mr Turnbull said today he could only say what he had said before.
“I received the assurance that I did from the President himself,” he said.
“That assurance was confirmed by the President’s spokesman in the briefing room of the White House. Our respective officials, are continuing to work on the implementation of the arrangements.”
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said that Mr Turnbull should “get more facts on the table” about the conversation with Mr Trump.
“We want to see the refugee deal happen, but clearly President Trump and his people are saying one thing happened in this conversation, which is completely at odds with what Prime Minister Turnbull has told the Australian people,” he said.
“We shouldn’t be finding out what’s happening to Australia in foreign newspapers.”
Talking to Sydney radio station 2GB, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton this morning described the government as being in a “good position” regarding the deal and took aim at the “hate media” over its coverage.
“The Prime Minister has spoken to President Trump and we had agreement from President Trump that he would continue the arrangement,” he said.
“It seems to me that some of the hate media journalists on the left wing debate in this country are adamant that they want to use these people as pawns.”
News.com.au has contacted the White House for comment.
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