"We didn't need them, but I asked them anyway," Trump said during the lunch, according to a video briefly posted on the White House YouTube channel before access was blocked, AFP reported.
"I call France, Macron—whose wife treats him extremely poorly. He's still recovering from a blow to the jaw," Trump said, referring to a May 2025 video circulating online that allegedly showed Brigitte Macron pushing her husband's face during a trip to Vietnam. Macron later dismissed the footage as part of a disinformation campaign.
Trump then described a conversation he claimed to have had with the French leader.
"And I said: 'Emmanuel, we would like some help in the Gulf even though we are breaking records in eliminating bad people and ballistic missiles. We would like help. If you can, can you send ships right away?'" Trump said.
He then imitated a French accent while recounting Macron's alleged response: "'No, no, no, we cannot do that, Donald. We can do it after the war is won.'"
"I said: 'No, no, I don't need it after the war is won, Emmanuel,'" he added.
Trump used these remarks to question NATO's reliability, saying: "That's how I learned about NATO—NATO won't be there if we ever have that big one, you know what I mean by that big one," without further explanation.
He also described NATO as a "paper tiger," in the latest criticism of the alliance by the U.S. leader and senior officials since his return to the White House.
On March 31, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would "have to reconsider" its relationship with NATO after the war with Iran ends.