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French President Hollande Hits Back at President Trump’s Paris Comments

2 minute read

French President Francois Hollande took issue with Donald Trump’s Friday comments about Paris, in which the American President claimed he had a friend who felt “Paris is no longer Paris” in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.

Hollande called for Trump to support U.S. allies.

“There is terrorism and we must fight it together,” Hollande said on Saturday during a visit at the Paris Agric fair, according to Reuters. “I think that it is never good to show the smallest defiance toward an allied country. I wouldn’t do it with the United States and I’m urging the U.S. president not to do it with France.

“I won’t make comparisons but here, people don’t have access to guns,” the French president added. “Here, you don’t have people with guns opening fire on the crowd simply for the satisfaction of causing drama and tragedy.”

Trump’s initial remarks came during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The president criticized Europe’s handling of recent Islamist terrorist attacks, saying his friend “Jim” no longer wants to take his family to the French capital.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault additionally responded to Trump’s comments via Twitter on Friday.

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