Despite what President Trump said, Japan’s Akie Abe does speak English
President Trump said the wife of the Japanese prime minister doesn’t speak English…expect videos seem to indicate otherwise.
“So, I was seated next to the wife of Prime Minister Abe, who I think is a terrific guy, and she’s a terrific woman, but doesn’t speak English,” he said of Akie Abe, wife of Japan’s Shinzo Abe, during an interview with the New York Times. The president was describing a dinner at the G20 summit, which made headlines after it was reported that he spoke briefly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Here’s the exchange between Trump and Times reporter Maggie Haberman:
Haberman: Like, nothing, right? Like zero?
Trump: Like, not “hello.â€
Haberman: That must make for an awkward seating.
Trump: Well, it’s hard, because you know, you’re sitting there for——
Haberman: Hours.
Trump: So the dinner was probably an hour and 45 minutes.
Later in the interview, he complimented Abe, saying, “But I enjoyed the evening with her, and she’s really a lovely woman, and I enjoyed — the whole thing was good.” It helped, he noted, that a translator was present.
The thing is, videos indicate that Abe does speak English.
Here’s one video that has gone viral of Abe giving a 2014 keynote address at the Ford Foundation in New York:
Another video shows Abe visiting an elementary school in Virginia with then-first lady Michelle Obama in 2015, during which she spoke to students.
And this video shows Abe on a tour with first lady Melania Trump when Abe and her husband visited the Trumps at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. While Abe doesn’t speak in the video, the tour is led by an English-speaking guide.
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