President Donald Trump kicked off a global press conference by presenting Prime Minister of Japan Shigeru Ishiba with a copy of his coffee table picture book Save America featuring a cover photo of his assassination attempt.
Trump held a joint press conference with Ishiba on Friday, during which he faced a raft of Elon Musk–related questions.
But he kicked things off with a gift presentation consisting of a framed photo of himself and the PM, and a copy of his book:
TRUMP: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with the Prime Minister. We had a picture taken a little while ago, and it was so nice. I thought I’d present it to you on stage. And here’s the picture. I wish I was as handsome as him, but I’m not.
SHIGERU ISHIBA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER: Okay, thank you. Oh.
TRUMP: Remember that day? Thank you very much, everybody. Appreciate it. I’m delighted to welcome Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru to the White House for the first time. And Prime Minister, it’s an honor to have you with us. A great honor. Japan is a great country. Thank you very much.
Japan is strong and proud. It’s a nation that is home to one of the great civilizations in the history of the world. For nearly 80 years, the American Japanese people have enjoyed a friendship like few others. We’ve had a great friendship across the vast ocean. And we found ourselves united by bonds of history, commerce, culture, mutual admiration and great respect.
After our meeting today, I’m confident that the cherished alliances between our two countries and others also will continue to flourish long and into the future. The military cooperation between the United States and Japan is one of our closest security partnerships, and it’s one of the closest we have anywhere in the world. Our service members work together every day to defend our common interests.
Watch above via The White House.
