Check ‘-“You shouldn’t be here”: Did Donald Trump really crop Emmanuel Macron to the Vatican?

The image has gone around the world. On the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral on April 26, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky are facing each other, each seated on a chair, while the relations between the American leader and his Ukrainian counterpart have been almost in a standstill for weeks. But to believe social networks, the Vatican would also have been the scene of a hanging between Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron, a few moments before this diplomatic meeting at the top. The American president would have dryly ousted Emmanuel Macron, who wanted to invite himself into the discussion – an allegation sufficiently conveyed to be denied by the Élysée.

If we analyze the available videos of the event, as did the team of TF1-LCI auditors, we first see Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky walks in the bottom of the Saint-Pierre basilica, then Emmanuel Macron join them to greet them. The three men exchange a few words that recording does not allow you to hear. It’s the next day, the English scandal newspaper The Sun – Not frankly renowned for his Francophilia – says that at that precise moment, the American president was crushed Emmanuel Macron dryly saying: “Do me a favor, you shouldn’t be here”which could result in “Be nice, you have nothing to do here”.

A lively tone a little surprising, in view of the relationship that the two men seem to maintain publicly for almost a decade. Donald Trump has always refrained from attacking the French president in his presence. What are the evidence of English tabloid to advance this interpretation? The author of the article explains that he asked for a British specialist, Nicola Hickling, who is deaf and reads on the lips, to decipher Trump’s sentence. The expert does not stick to it, and even hears the Ukrainian president approve Trump on this point: “I would like you to do this, but not like that”.

Our team therefore contacted Nicola Hickling to find out how she had done. “I cannot disclose details on my method or my natural labial reading superpower”she replied via the WhatsApp application. Never mind, we have called another specialist, recognized in England for 20 years. Jeremy Freeman reads on the lips of football players during the matches, or for judicial investigations. “”Reading on the lips is not an exact science “, he explained to us“But what I’m sure is that he never pronounces the sentence ‘Give me service’(…) The shape of his mouth would be completely different “.

“Le Petit Français was put back in his place”

Interpretation of charge of Sun generated a surge in social media reactions, often relayed by pro-Russian accounts. “The little Frenchman was put back in his place“, Can we read in particular. On the French channel CNews, an editorialist goes even further, believing that the American president joins the gesture to this supposed word. “Trump pushes Macron with a significant body language”he says. We see Donald Trump, however, tender his arms opening towards his Ukrainian and French counterparts, and there is no hostile gestures during the 11 seconds that this sequence lasts.

• 

  Read

  Chinese Alibaba teaches an artificial intelligence to read (perfectly) on the lips

Neither the White House nor the Élysée, confirms the slightest verbal game. What is happening at that time, reacted the French presidency, is a spontaneous exchange between Zelensky, Trump, Macron and Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister who joins the group. Having only a video too short to be replaced in a context, we will probably never know what the leaders said, but the version of the Sun is far from being corroborated.

Do you want to ask us questions or submit information that does not seem reliable to you? Do not hesitate to write to us at [email protected]. Also find us on X: our team is present behind the @verif_tf1lci account.